Saskatoon man rappels down the south bridge walkway to save his cellphone

A Saskatoon man tried to recreate a scene from Mission Impossible to grab his cellphone from a sandbar on the South Saskatchewan River.

At around 10:40 p.m. Wednesday night the Saskatoon Fire Department received a call from a man who was stuck on a sandbar on the river. The man said he used a rope to rappel down 20 feet from the pedestrian walkway under the Circle Drive South Bridge to retrieve a cellphone he dropped while walking across the suspended walkway.

With the cold and fatigue setting in, the man told the fire department he couldn’t climb back up and he needed to be rescued. When firefighters arrived they found the man standing at the base of a bridge column.

Firefighters sent an emergency blanket and hand warmers down to the man as the rope rescue team prepared a rope-rigging system to pull the man to safety.

The man was found safe with no injuries.

The Saskatoon Fire Department cautions the public about safety when crossing any of the city’s bridges, and does not recommend anyone leave the confines of the pedestrian walkways for any reason.