RESCUERS recovered a body from the River Wye after reports of a man falling off the A48 Sedbury Bridge linking Wales and England in Chepstow.
A major emergency operation involving lifeboats and a coastguard helicopter was launched on the tidal river shortly after 5pm on Thursday, December 12.
The incident happened around the same time as emergency services were dealing with a serious car crash near the former National Diving Centre less than a mile away on the same road at Tidenham.
A Gwent Police spokesperson said: "We received a report that a man had fallen from the Sedbury Bridge, in Chepstow, at around 5.15pm.
"Officers attended, alongside personnel from the Welsh Ambulance Service, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service and Severn Area Rescue Association (SARA).
"A man was later found in the water and paramedics confirmed he had died. His next of kin are aware and will be supported by specialist officers."
A spokesperson from SARA's Beachley lifeboat station said: "At around 5.10pm we were alerted to a situation on the River Wye in Chepstow. Maritime and Coastguard Agency tasked us to assist shortly after.
"The information we received was that a man had fallen from the A48 Bridge, Chepstow.
"From the initial alert we arranged for lifeboat crew to muster at Beachley lifeboat station.
“The situation was complicated by congested roads in the Chepstow area due to a collision on the A48 just to the north of the town which meant that some crew had difficulty in getting to the station.
"We launched lifeboat SARA 1 at around 5.40pm, arriving on scene around 17.45pm.
"SARA 3 launched shortly afterwards. Our sister station Severn Area Rescue Association – Newport Lifeboat brought SARA 14 and a crew to Beachley in case they were needed to launch.
"Our crews, working with RNLI Portishead carried out a search on the river. We located the person in the river and took them in SARA 1 to the emergency services on shore. Sadly, they later confirmed that the person had died.
“As well as those mentioned above, we worked closely on this incident with several other organisations including: HM Coastguard Chepstow, Gwent Police, South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service.
"Our thoughts are with the family of the person involved, and our thanks go to the other services with whom we worked."
One man who witnessed the emergency operation posted: "I saw this unfold while in Chepstow last night.
"Was an excellent example of multi-organisation cooperation but unfortunately a very sad result.
"Thoughts with the individual’s family and those who were part of the rescue attempt. Must have been very traumatic for all involved."
The road, a main route between the Forest of Dean, South Wales and the south West, was closed around 6pm and remained closed until late into the night.