A WOMAN has died after being pulled from a freezing river in Brighouse.

The woman, aged 52 and from the town, was seen to jump into the river from the bridge on Huddersfield Road at around 1am today.

Despite fire crews trained in water rescue entering the water she was found at around 1.30am and they were unable to revive her.

Brighouse watch manager Alex MacFarlene said: “We think she was in the water for seven minutes prior to our arrival and we found her and pulled her out just before 1.30am.

“Fire crews gave her CPR straight away and worked with paramedics to revive her.”

Paramedics took over but the woman tragically had died.

Fire crews from Brighouse, Elland, Leeds and Rothwell were called to assist.

Watch commander MacFarlene added: “It was reported to us that the woman had jumped into the river, she was seen to have gone in at around 1am.

“Brighouse crews were first on the scene, within minutes, and we’re trained in water rescue and the crews were in straight away.

“We searched around the Bridge End area of Brighouse in an inflatable water sled.

“We were joined by crews from Leeds and Rothwell who are also trained in water rescue and they began searches of the bridge around Huddersfield Road and Blakeborough’s Bridge off Armitage Road.

“It was the Leeds crew who found her near the Huddersfield Road section of the river.

“Our guys were in the water in thermals, drysuits, helmets and all the safety gear and they said it was freezing in there.
“She’d be in for around 30 minutes, so will have felt it.”
Police say her death is not being treated as suspicious and the coroner is now dealing with the case.