Two boys, ages 3 and 1, survived a 100-foot fall from a Wanaque, New Jersey, bridge in their father’s Monday, October 24, murder-suicide attempt. According to PIX11, Pequannock Police Captain Christopher DePuyt is calling their survival “a miracle.” Though his kids are alive, the dad died in the incident.

The news outlet reports that the kids’ parents got in a heated argument inside the family’s nearby Pequannock home before the dad took off with the boys and threatened to “kill” the boys, according to police.

“[It] happened very quickly and [the domestic disturbance] became secondary to why we were called there after he threatened to do harm to the boys,” DePuyt told PIX11.

According to PIX11, police were able to track the father’s cellphone and quickly realized he was driving to a highway bridge on the I-287 over the Wanaque River that is infamous for suicide attempts. “That bridge is a place where suicides have been attempted and committed before,” DePuyt explained.

Case investigators think that the father climbed over an 8-foot “suicide prevention” fence with his sons before jumping off the bridge. Responding officers noticed his car on the bridge and immediately began searching for the three individuals underneath the overpass.

The dad — who has yet to be identified — was pronounced dead at the scene, but the boys were conscious when they were found. Police said that the 1-year-old has a bruised lung and a concussion while the 3-year-old only has a concussion.