Bicyclist pulled from Modesto canal

A bicyclist who fell into an irrigation canal along Briggsmore Avenue near Lakewood Avenue was transported to a local hospital Saturday morning after being pulled out by emergency responders.

Emergency personnel arrived on the scene about 8:30 a.m. They found the 50-year-old Modesto woman underwater, said Modesto police Lt. Kelly Scott. She was riding alone, he said.

“Why she went into the water we really don’t know,” Scott said. “It appears that she simply rode off of the canal bank into the water.”

Eight personnel from the Modesto Fire Department responded to rescue the woman. One firefighter entered the canal with a rope and found the woman 3 feet under the water, according to Modesto Fire Department Division Chief Alan Ernst.

He pulled her to the surface and kept her head above water as he swam to the canal bank. Another firefighter helped pull the woman onto the canal bank.

Scott estimates the woman had been in the water for five to 10 minutes before she was pulled out. She wasn’t breathing and had no detectable pulse.

Firefighters started CPR and were able to establish a pulse after about 40 minutes, Ernst said.

The woman was taken by ambulance to a local hospital where she was listed in critical condition Saturday afternoon.

This story was originally published June 6, 2015 at 10:22 AM with the headline "Bicyclist pulled from Modesto canal."