On Wednesday morning, several workers and students were disturbed by the presence of a teen in distress on Pierre Laporte bridge.

Everyday, more than 100 000 cars are going across the St Laurence river, but on that morning, their routine took another twist when the autorities closed the passage at 7h30 am. The circulation was delayed for three hours. This had dire consequence on trucks and heavy transportation, they are not allowed to cross the Quebec bridge, while smaller vehicles can. “I could never come to work and had to take the day off at my own expense ” Said Marie -Michèle Demers a school teacher.

According to witnesses, the 16 years old  teenager, took on to climb the bridge using the main struts. He was seen and reported by numerous drivers. He managed to get to the top. According to a source that wanted to remain anonymous, the teen got stuck in a gap in the infrastructure, which made it impossible for him to get down on his own.

The police quickly showed up at the site but had difficulty to climb the structure. Apparently, they even had to carry a ladder up in order to get to the teen. This is why the procedure took so long.

The structure, in which the individual climbed, had been partly secured in 2012 following a suicide attempt. The government has put, after that incident anti-suicide fences on both sides of the bridge but nothing was done to prevent a pedestrian to climb from the middle. Compared to other bridge in the province, it’s not enough. MTQ knows that they need to reinforce their security measures and they are actually making tests in order to complete the process.

This event is potentially dangerous and may attract other suicide attempts. We recently have learned that a teenager tried to do the same on Québec bridge days later.

Make sure you are attentive to the emotions and feelings of your entourage.

(Written by:Léa Pelletier and Cassandre Boutet; editing by: Louis Philippe Garneau)