Man swept over Niagara Falls found alive in miraculous escape
- Park police say man climbed over barrier and entered raging waters of the Niagara River, but was later found sitting on some rocks
- Incident happened on 59th anniversary of seven-year-old boy being washed over in only a life jacket – the first person to survive fall with no protection
The report came in before sunrise, sending members of the Niagara Parks Police scrambling to get to the thundering waterfalls early on Tuesday.
There was a man “in crisis”, authorities said in a statement shared on Twitter – and he was near the brink of Horseshoe Falls, the largest of the three waterfalls that make up Niagara Falls, which straddles the US-Canada border and draws tens of millions of visitors each year.
Despite their efforts, when officers arrived at the Canadian side of the falls at around 4am, they appeared to be too late.
Park police said they saw the man climb over the retaining wall – a sturdy barrier made of rough-hewn stone blocks interspersed with decorative metal railings – and enter the raging waters of the Niagara River. Within moments, he was swept over the enormous waterfall, vanishing into the impenetrable cloud of mist rising from the gorge.
With no protective covering and facing a roughly 57-metre (188-foot) drop into a roiling pool of water filled with large rocks, history suggested that the man’s survival was unlikely.