It was a very contentious claim to say that jumping from the bridge into the water was better than staying still and hoping for rescue.
Because most of them failed to.
Instead of cleanly hitting the waters, almost all hit some floating debris along the way, snapping and smashing their bones and causing them to cry out in utmost agony.
They either died from the injury or drowned after losing consciousness due to the blackening pain.
And even those who managed to get a clean landing found the freezing water extremely treacherous, with all the floating stones and wood debris too dangerous to navigate.
Just a soft glancing touch from these tons and tons worth of behemoths would be enough to severely injure the man, if not crush him like a juicy grape.