A woman was left in critical condition after being pulled from the Thames after she fell from Westminster Bridge during Wednesday’s terrorist attack outside parliament.
The attacker drove his car at pedestrians along the bridge. It is not known whether the woman voluntarily jumped to avoid the vehicle or was thrown into the water.
A spokesman for the Port of London Authority, which looks after safety on the river Thames, said: “A female member of the public was recovered from the water near Westminster Bridge. She is alive but undergoing urgent medical treatment on a nearby pier. We believe she fell from the bridge.”
The woman was rescued from the Thames at 2.49pm. The police closed the river from Vauxhall to Embankment but said they believed the woman was the only person who had ended up in the water.
Steve Voake, 55, was walking across Westminster Bridge when he witnessed the aftermath of the attack. He said he had seen at least two bodies in the road and when he looked over the side of the bridge “there was another body lying in the water with blood all around it”.
Michael Amadou was driving a No 253 bus across Westminster Bridge when the incident happened and described how the attacker, driving a grey 4x4 Hyundai, had “started from the hospital heading towards parliament and just mowed down whoever was in his way”.
He added: “I heard one guy come running behind me shouting his wife had jumped into the river to avoid getting knocked down.”
