Wendella boat crew pulls man from Chicago River who had fallen off downtown bridge

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A Wendella boat crew pulled a 65-year-old man from the Chicago River, who had fallen off the Michigan Avenue bridge downtown Friday morning, Chicago police and Wendella officials said.

The man fell off the DuSable Bridge about 11:30 a.m., just steps from the tourist-heavy Magnificent Mile.

The people who helped save the man's life spoke with ABC7 about the harrowing moments.

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It happened while the tour boat captain says his crew was just wrapping up a tour and headed to the dock. They saw a splash in the water and soon noticed it was a body floating in the river, and the crew quickly took action.

Wendella officials said they were able to get the man out of the water and passengers and crew performed CPR.

Cell phone video showed the dramatic rush to save the man's life on the Chicago River as the 65-year-old was pulled out of the cold water.

"So, we went into our man overboard operations. We train every month at least two or three times," Wendella Tours & Cruises Captain Joe Ratzek said.

Ratzek, who's also a retired suburban firefighter, says his crew members and passengers, including one who happened to be a nurse, turned from staff and sightseers to sudden heroes.

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"Of course, he was face down. I didn't think he was breathing. The first thing was to get him in as soon as possible," Ratzek said. "We did have a couple hundred people on the boat. We had to get them cleared out of the way... And luckily for him, we were right here in front of Trump Tower, just pulling in. If we would've been further down, he would've been floating. There's no other boats in the river."

The man was initially unresponsive, but regained consciousness and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in good condition, CPD and Wendella said.

Onboard the Wendella tour boat was nurse Jessica Nath, who happens to be a nurse vacationing from Houston, Texas.

"I was over the ledge, going to get this guy - legit jump in the water," Nath said. "The captain was, like, 'Stop!'"

The crew and other passengers worked together to keep the man alive.

"When we pulled him out of the water, he was not moving. He was freezing cold," Nath said. "After doing CPR, his eyes opened and everybody around us - it was such a joyous moment."

It was not immediately clear how the man fell from the bridge.

No further information was available.