The family of a teenager who fell to his death from Blackfriars Bridge over the weekend is calling for action.
The body of Mathew Magdic, 19, was found early Saturday morning under the bridge.
While the bridge has been closed for months, CTV News learned that people have been climbing across it, even though it’s boarded up.
“I hope it's a message to the City of London that it shouldn't take a fatality to fix an obvious hazard of a structure that's over 100 years old,” says Kristina Zaja.
She says because of its age and damage, it should have been demolished.
The city is asking the public for cooperation.
“Right now the bridge is not safe,” says Doug MacRae, the city’s manager of transportation and design.
“We're all really shocked at the unfortunate event last weekend and we need people to cooperate and just stay off the bridge.”
He says anyone trying to cross it is putting himself in danger, but the city is reviewing the safety of it.
In September, Judy Bryant, Ward 13 councillor, put a motion forward to open the bridge up to pedestrians and cyclists, but city engineers say that won't happen for at least another month.
Meanwhile, Magdic’s family is trying to come to grips with his death.
“A piece of my heart will always be gone,” says Zaja, outside the St. Thomas funeral home where the teenager is being remembered.
Zaja is only three years older than her nephew and grew up with him.
“I have a picture in my mind of this little boy with an ear to ear smile that greeted everybody with warmth and enthusiasm and that's the same way that he left us as a young man.”
Family and friends say Magdic was athletic, respectful and a good friend. He went to high school in St. Thomas and recently graduated from Fanshawe College.
