This from The News Tribune: A 25-year-old soldier being questioned by a state trooper jumped off the eastbound Tacoma Narrows bridge early Monday morning, appeared to survive the fall but disappeared before he could be rescued, authorities said.

A search below the bridge failed to find any trace of the man, who was last seen swimming in the cold water.

A Tacoma Fire Department boat searched the water south of the bridge for a few hours without success. Firefighters turned the search over to the U.S. Coast Guard about 8 a.m. A Coast Guard helicopter and one of its 25-foot boats took up the search south of the bridge. It was suspended about 10:30 a.m., a Coast Guard spokesman said.

Washington State Patrol spokeswoman trooper Brandy Kessler said the man, who appeared to be very intoxicated, spoke with a trooper who responded to a report of a car stopped on the bridge about 5 a.m.

At one point during the conversation, she said, the man rushed toward the railing and jumped over. The trooper raced to the railing and saw the man face down in the water. The man, who apparently survived the initial jump, started to swim away, Kessler said.

"Then the trooper couldn't see him anymore," she said.

The man's name was not released.

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