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© AlamyThe 17 year-old survived the 220-foot drop from the Golden Gate bridge into San Francisco Bay with only minor injuries.
A California high school pupil visiting the Golden Gate Bridge on a field trip climbed over a railing, jumped - possibly on a dare by fellow classmates - and somehow survived the 220-foot plunge into San Francisco Bay that kills dozens of people each year.

Most jumpers die, of internal injuries, broken bones and skull fractures, or drowning.

But the 17 year-old lived, and a statement from his school said he suffered no severe injuries beyond bruising and tenderness. He was rescued by a surfer who paddled over and took him ashore, California Highway Patrol Officer Chris Rardin said.

"It's a miracle in itself," Rardin said. "The majority of folks do not survive this type of fall."

Windsor Unified School District Superintendent Bill McDermott said he did not think the teen was trying to commit suicide, but instead jumped after other pupils from Windsor High School in Sonoma County urged him on. Several witnesses saw the teen go over the railing.

An ambulance rushed the teen to a San Francisco hospital. Officials couldn't provide further details Thursday night on his condition.

Someone leaps off the bridge an average of once every two weeks, with 32 deaths last year. About 98 percent of those plunges are fatal, and authorities rule most of those deaths suicides.

The Marin County Coroner's Office and the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District have said that up to 1,500 people have died after jumping off the bridge since it opened in 1937.

Last fall, transportation officials approved $5 million (ยฃ3.1 million) in federal funding to design a suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge. Plans include a stainless steel net that would hang below the span.

The final design is not complete and installation is at least several years away, bridge district spokeswoman Mary Currie told the San Francisco Chronicle.