Toronto police will have to wait until morning to to confirm whether a motorist was inside a vehicle that smashed through a guardrail and into the deep waters of Lake Ontario in the city’s Port Lands Thursday afternoon.

Sgt. Brett Moore said around 6:30 p.m. that divers had located the car but nightfall was forcing them to suspend their recovery efforts for the evening.

Moore said he was unable to confirm if any passengers were located.

Police were first called to Cherry Street just before 4 p.m. Witnesses said they saw a car go into the water at the bridge across the ship channel just south of Polson Street.

Callers told Toronto Fire Services that they saw a silver Toyota Corolla hit the guardrail on the bridge at a high rate of speed.

Moore said the car was heading north on Cherry Street when it crossed the median, bounded over the sidewalk on the bridge and smashed through the barrier.

The car was quickly fully submerged. The water in the area of the bridge is approximately 25 feet deep, according to Toronto Fire Platoon Chief Kevin Aucoin.

Aucoin said a cyclist who jumped into the water to assist was “trying to help the best way that they could.”

“Apparently the vehicle was on the surface of the water when the person dove in,” Aucoin said. Emergency crews are working on the assumption that there was one person inside the vehicle when it entered the water.

Firefighters said the person who dived into the water to assist is now out of the water. The person taken to hospital for treatment for symptoms of hypothermia, paramedics said.

A number of firefighters and police in dinghies and larger boats could be seen searching the water beneath the bridge before nightfall. They have cleared the scene for now.

Cherry Street will closed throughout the night at Polson Street in both directions.