Boaters rescue man who jumped off Ocean City bridge to save baby. [View all]
The baby was still strapped in her car seat when she was thrown from her family's vehicle after a crash.
'The story of an anonymous hero who jumped 30 feet off a bridge to save a baby is told through dramatic pictures of Sunday’s crash on Route 90 in Ocean City and a boater’s shaky cellphone video.
Shortly after 2:45 p.m., five vehicles collided on the Route 90 bridge, sending a pickup truck careening toward the guardrail. The truck ended up teetering over the edge of the 4-foot wall. Upon impact, firefighters said a baby — still strapped in her car seat — was thrown into the Assawoman Bay.
14-year old Alayna Oertel was behind the wheel of her family boat when she spotted something strange near the bridge.
“I saw that there was the truck over the guardrail and my first instinct was to go look and see if there were people there. So, I told my dad to take over and I pulled out the life vests," said Alayna Oertel.
Oertel’s father quickly drove to the bridge to find a man in a red shirt, waving his hand feverously and holding a baby. Firefighters said the man who jumped to save the girl was involved in the wreck and wishes to remain anonymous.
“I'm really surprised that he was not injured,” said Joe Oertel, “It's only about four to five feet deep right along where he where the accident was and where he had to jump in.”
“The first thing we did was just get them on the boat and make sure that the baby was OK,” recalled Alayna, “She was crying, so we knew that she was OK.”'
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/ocean-city-bridge-man-rescues-baby-chesapeake-bay-maryland/65-b76a421c-c0ef-41cc-a81b-3833f2315718?
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