Woman rescued from Mississippi River in Alton early Monday

A woman who wound up in the Mississippi River on the Alton riverfront early Monday was saved by Alton firefighters.

ALTON — A woman who wound up in the Mississippi River on the Alton riverfront early Monday was saved by Alton firefighters.

At 2:56 a.m. Monday, firefighters and police were called to Riverfront Park for a woman in the river just south of the city's splash pad. First responders spotted her clinging to the wall, far below the fence. It was unclear whether the woman fell in or jumped in.

By 3:15 a.m. the Alton Fire Department's fire and rescue boat, Marine 1, was leaving its dock at the Alton Marina. Firefighters on shore did their best to light the woman's location for the rescue boat where she held on.

At 3:24 a.m. firefighters pulled her aboard Marine 1. After being treated briefly in a fire department ambulance she was rushed to OSF St. Anthony's Medical Center in serious condition at 3:42 a.m.

The wall along the Alton riverfront runs to bedrock and was the outside wall of one of the old Lock and Dam 26's locks. Because of that it has places to grab hold of built into the wall which were used by barge hands.

Riverfront Park is closed from dark to dawn and barricaded to keep people out at night.

No further information was available Monday morning.