police said Thursday.
The Eugene woman was being treated for critical injuries at a Portland-area hospital.
The woman's family had recently reported her missing, police spokesman John Hankemeier said.
A
911 caller reported Thursday afternoon that a car appeared to be on
fire from the inside, with the woman at the wheel driving recklessly,
The Register-Guard newspaper (http://is.gd/ZBElBA ) reported.
After the car crashed into a
bridge guardrail, witnesses told police the woman jumped out — on fire —
and began taking her clothes off as she ran to the edge of the span.
Truck
drivers tried to put out the flames with fire extinguishers and another
person tried to grab the woman, but she was still able to jump, police
said
"I am thankful for the witness
who helped us piece together what happened and was trying to keep this
woman from jumping off a bridge," traffic Lt. Doug Mozan said. "Her
efforts were nothing less than heroic."
When
the car crashed, a piece of its bumper sailed over the bridge, injuring
a 40-year-old woman below. The pedestrian was treated for minor
injuries, police said.
The car was still engulfed in flames when police arrived, Mozan said.
The accident damaged the bridge and traffic was backed up for almost two hours.
The fire and crash remain under investigation.
"I
believe it was intentionally set on fire but at this point we're still
investigating," Mozan told KVAL-TV. "I think according to witnesses she
was spreading some sort of propellant but it's hard to say what exactly
that was."

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