By Mark Mackay

FOR THE third time in just two months, emergency services in Perth feared the worst as they investigated reports of the latest jumper from one of the town’s bridges.

Fire service appliances were called to Tay Street shortly after 2.30am yesterday after reports that a male had been seen to leap from the Queen’s Bridge into the Tay.

Two families are already mourning the loss of loved ones in the river’s waters following tragic incidents in September and October.

However, in this latest incident a male casualty was recovered alive and relatively unscathed from the river.

Within 15 minutes of first being made aware of his plight, Tayside Fire and Rescue crews had recovered the man, who has not been identified, from the water using an aerial ladder.

He was taken by ambulance to Perth Royal Infirmary, where he remained throughout the day. His condition is not believed to be serious.

A police spokesman yesterday confirmed a man had jumped from the Queen’s Bridge into the River Tay.

He described the person involved as a “drunken male” and the incident as “tomfoolery.”

The man has been charged and a police report will be submitted.

The incident is the latest in a series of events that have left families devastated, with two deaths in the past two months.

In September, the body of a 17-year-old Perth man was recovered from the river after he leaped from the Queen’s Bridge.

The tragic youth’s funeral took place just two weeks before a 34-year-old local woman died after plunging into the fast-flowing waters of the Tay from Perth Bridge.