Bridge Crushes Boat in Florida, Passengers Dive into Water for Safety

Passengers on a pontoon boat in Florida were forced to flee and dive into the water when a drawbridge started to crush the side of the boat.

Video footage of the incident at a drawbridge in Jupiter, South Florida, was also captured by a bystander.

Jillian Pisciotta, a woman in the area, was able to capture the tense moment on her phone from the edge of the Intracoastal Waterway in Jupiter last month, according to a Fox 13 report.

The boat had stopped underneath the drawbridge to avoid the heavy rain. The bridge operator was also unaware the boat was in the area when they began to raise the bridge.

The video showed the mechanisms of the bridge beginning to crush the side of boat, with some passengers, after some hesitation, deciding to jump off into the water.

In the video voices of shocked witnesses can be heard as they instruct the boat passengers to get off.

One side of the boat begins to rise out of the water while the other side is crushed, all the while some people still remain on the boat.

Eventually, the boat returns to being level in the water and some passengers climb back in. Witnesses can be heard questioning why all the passengers had not yet left the boat.

Some witnesses and people in the area spoke to local media about the incident.

"I think that's pretty crazy, I've never seen it, personally. Like, honestly, if I were on that boat, I would be scared, one man told 7 News Miami.

"It's actually very terrifying, because I was like, 'Oh, that's funny', and then no, it's actually really terrifying and dangerous," another woman said.

Another woman added: "Lucky they jumped off and luckily they got off safely and didn't get crushed."

A Palm Beach County spokesperson told 7 News Miami that the bridge tender was unaware that the boat was underneath the bridge.

Newsweek has contacted Palm Beach County for comment.

A similar incident occurred in Florida in February, except this time it was a driver who was almost crushed due to a drawbridge rising.

Video footage of a drawbridge in Palm Beach County saw a man in a silver car almost be crushed. The video shows his car be raised to the point where it is almost completely vertical.

"A motorist in Florida was caught in a precarious situation as a drawbridge began to raise while his vehicle had not fully cleared the road," ABC News wrote on its Twitter page as they shared the video on February 24.

"The driver eventually drove off once the bridge lowered and the County employee was terminated after the incident."