ASHLAND, Ky. — A distraught woman with apparent thoughts of suicide was talked down from the Ben Williamson Bridge between Coal Grove and Ashland, Ky., Tuesday night, but not before keeping police officers and firefighters busy for nearly two hours.

The name of the woman was not available as of press time.

Ashland Fire Chief Scott Penick said firefighters were alerted at 7:44 p.m. that a woman had climbed on the bridge taking traffic into Kentucky and was threatening to jump.

The bridge was closed to traffic while police officers and firefighters set up communication with the woman and tried to talk her down. The woman had positioned herself over the railroad tracks, Penick said.

“We initially responded with the boat and the rope rescue but once we determined she was over the railroad tracks we brought the boat back and got the ladder truck,” Penick said.

A firefighter and a police officer eventually coaxed the woman into the bucket of the ladder truck and brought her off the bridge.

She was turned over to the police department, Penick said. The woman was reportedly taken to King’s Daughters Medical Center. The name of the firefighter and police officer were not immediately available.

“Sometimes we don’t have a lot of good news but this time we do,” Penick said. “It worked out well, the equipment worked, everything went well in spite of the nasty pouring rain.”