Child jumps to his death off Arizona's iconic London Bridge that was shipped from its original UK location brick by brick

By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-13 21:28:43 | Updated at 2026-08-14 00:17:07 6 hours ago

By EMMA RICHTER, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER

Published: 15:46 BST, 13 August 2026 | Updated: 19:03 BST, 13 August 2026

A boy died after jumping to his death from Arizona's iconic London Bridge, according to police. 

The child, who has not been identified, leapt from the structure around 8.50am on Tuesday, the Lake Havasu City Police Department said. 

Witnesses reported seeing the boy plummet into the water before he briefly resurfaced and went back under, the agency detailed. 

When officers with the Lake Havasu City Police and Fire Department arrived at the scene, they immediately began searching the shoreline and water. 

A fire department crew member conducted an underwater search of the area, leading to the discovery of the unresponsive child around 9.12am, police said. 

He was reportedly submerged for about 20 minutes, Havasu News reported. 

He was removed from the water and transferred to a boat, where life-saving efforts were given. 

The child was then transported to Havasu Regional Medical Center in critical condition before being flown to Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he died from his injuries on Wednesday. 

An unidentified child jumped to his death from the London Bridge in Lake Havasu, Arizona, on Wednesday morning, according to police. (Pictured: Stock image)

The Las Vegas hospital is a high-level trauma center. 

The details surrounding his death remain unclear. The police continue to investigate the incident. 

The depth of the river directly under the bridge is about five to 10ft deep, depending on the exact spot and seasonal water levels.  

Lake Havasu has an average depth of 35ft, but deeper parts of the lake can drop to 90ft near the Parker Dam. 

The Daily Mail contacted the Lake Havasu City Police Department and the Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner for comment. 

The famous bridge was built in the 1830s and originally spanned the River Thames in London, England. 

But in the early 1960s, officials made the startling discovery that the 1,000ft structure was slowly sinking at a rate of one inch every eight years, according to History. 

Thousands of pedestrians and horse-drawn vehicles crossing the London Bridge in London, England before the structure relocated to Arizona

The bridge was purchased in 1968 from the City of London by Robert P. McCulloch (pictured), an entrepreneur from Missouri, and brough to Arizona 

The bridge was then purchased in 1968 from the City of London by Robert P. McCulloch, an entrepreneur from Missouri. 

The tycoon and his business associate, C.V. Wood, offered double the $1.2 million price tag for the bridge, the outlet stated. 

The pair also decided to throw in an additional $60,000, which amounted to $1,000 'for each year old he would be when the bridge reopened at Lake Havasu,' the report detailed. 

McCulloch, who sold the first chainsaw through the McCulloch Motors Corporation, became the official owner of the bridge in April 1968 for a final price of $2.46 million. 

The process of moving the massive bridge saw workers label each of its granite bricks before they disassembled it and packed it up in crates to be shipped to Long Beach, California. 

Trucks then transported it across the desert to Lake Havasu and it was reassembled there.  

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