Canadian worker 'lucky to be alive' after fall from Ambassador Bridge

Ambassador Bridge rescue after fall Investigation looks into how a worker on the Ambassador Bridge fell off and survived. CTV Windsor's Travis Fortnum reports.

A Canadian man in his 20s who was working on the Ambassador Bridge is said to be extremely lucky after falling almost 150 feet into the Detroit River.

“There’s no reason in the world this man’s alive,” Harbour Master Peter Berry told CTV News Windsor. “In my 14 years I don’t know of anybody that’s survived the fall off that bridge.”

A spokesperson for the Detroit Fire Department said they were called to the scene shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday evening and credits fast-acting bystanders with the man’s survival.

Berry said less than five minutes passed from his fall to when he was loaded in an ambulance.

“He had his worst day and his best day all in one day,” he said. “His worst day is falling and his best day’s the fact that he survived and will live to go home.”

The worker was conscious and speaking with rescuers when he was pulled from the river.

He remains in hospital.

The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration confirmed to CTV News Windsor an investigation has been launched into what led to the fall, but will take “several weeks or months to complete.”

They were not able to confirm what work the man was doing but Barry said he was on the U.S. side of the bridge when he fell.

The company that owns the bridge told CTV News Windsor he is an employee of a contractor.

When Joshua Rene heard the news that a worker had fallen from the bridge, it hit close to home. His father, Jamie Barker, was painting the bridge in November 2000 when he fell to his death.

Rene said he was angry when he heard what happened Wednesday.

“You don’t want other people to go through it,” Rene said. “You kind of ask yourself, when is enough?

He added, “Thank goodness he survived, but he has to live with that trauma and his family have to live with that trauma.”

Nearly 23 years after his father’s death Rene has taken on a part-time public speaking role through ‘Threads of Life,’ a charity which aims to support families after workplace tragedies.

While the circumstances that led to Wednesday’s incident remain unclear, Rene wants workers to remember the dangers of lax safety on the job.

“You’d like to think that when someone goes to work, that it is a safe environment,” he said. “You go, you make your paycheck, you come home to your family. The sad truth is it’s not always like that.”