Woman plummets 50ft to her death after drawbridge opens as she walked crossed

An elderly woman fell 50 feet to her death after being caught on a drawbridge when it opened.

The woman, who is still to be officially identified, was crossing the Royal Park Bridge from Palm Beach to West Palm Beach, in Florida, when the tragedy happened last Monday, said police.

She was “walking her bicycle” and had got to within 10 feet of the barrier arms to stop traffic when the drawbridge began to rise and she began to slip down the gap.

“The woman tried to hang on,” said police spokesman Mike Jachles, adding that a man on the other side of the barrier also grabbed her arms but he couldn’t keep a grip on her.

He continued: “She was walking her bike from east to west and had almost reached the furthest point of the moveable span when it went up.

The woman, who was pushing a bike, fell more than 50 feet to her death (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

“He tried to help her but he wasn’t able to hold onto her and she fell about five to six stories below. At some point it opened. The circumstances around that are under investigation by detectives.”

Police are trying to establish why the drawbridge opened with someone still on it.

The woman landed onto concrete below and police are still trying to identify her as she was not carrying any documentation. They are appealing for anyone who may her to come forward and have described her as an “older” woman.

“So if anybody knows who this person might be, they’re urged to contact the West Palm Beach Police Department,” Mr Jachles told reporters.

He said that the bridge tender was “distraught” after she and other members of the public witnessed the woman fall to her death.

Mr Jachles told WPBF : "There are warning signs and there are safety procedures in place for the bridge tenders to follow, with multiple steps and multiple layers of checking to make sure that there are no cars or people on the bridge when it goes up.

"So that's all part of the investigation, to determine whether procedure was followed or whether this woman crossed after the signals were down."

The bridge is commonly used by cyclists.

“Palm Beach is accessible only through three bridges and this is the main bridge, so it’s very used by cyclists,” advocate Juan Orellana told WPTV.

“For one thing, you will hear the bell before the arms go down, so when you hear the bell, you gotta get out of the way before the bridge goes up."