A worker doing routine maintenance said he was walking along the bridge at about 7:20 a.m. when he heard a voice call out, is someone there? Looking over a railing, Manuel Amador says he saw the bloodied man lying in an area that was inaccessible, except by falling in.
He was scared, said Amador, an 11-year employee at the port. He just told me, don't leave me alone and call 911. Please don't leave.
Amador radioed for help. A crew specially trained for rope rescues arriving a few minutes later.
Miami-Dade firefighter T.W. Syr says the man, who had fallen about 40 feet Sunday night, was conscious and alert, but in a lot of pain.
He stated to me that he was talking on his cell phone, had set it down, dropped it and it bounced off a wall to the first tier, which is about 7 or 8 feet, Syr said. He tried to use a railing to hold on (and reach the phone) and lost his grip.
Using what's known as the Tillie Tooter drill, named after the Broward senior who spent several days trapped inside her car in a swamp off I-595, the rescue crews used ropes to hoist the man up. He was then taken to the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Despite suffering severe injuries, Syr said the man, identified only as being in his mid-20's, should be fine.
It's truly an amazing story of survival, Miami-Dade Fire Capt. Louie Fernandez said. This gentleman, for almost two and a half days, was down there 40 feet below without anyone around him, with no working cellular phone and survived by drinking water runoff that was below the bridge.
Port of Miami spokeswoman Andrea Muniz said he was in a restricted area and should not have been there.
