Person dies after jumping from Penobscot Narrows Bridge

To reach a suicide prevention hotline, call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.

A person died on Saturday morning after jumping from the Penobscot Narrows Bridge.

The death has been confirmed as a suicide, according to an official at the Hancock Regional Communications Center.

Orland Fire Department said in a Facebook post that it was dispatched shortly after 5 a.m. for an incident at the bridge involving a rescue boat that ended with a completed recovery effort.

The state has several times delayed plans to install fencing on the bridge to prevent people from jumping from the bridge, which spans the Penobscot River, from Prospect to Verona Island and stands 135 feet above the water.

As of early November, the state was testing how wind would affect the fencing.

In 2015 the state installed suicide hotline phones at either ends of the Penobscot Narrows Bridge, in the towns of Verona Island and Prospect, but more than once the phones were found to be not working. The effectiveness of such phones, even when they do work, has been questioned by mental health professionals.