Man survives plunge over Horseshoe Falls, 40 minutes in water
Rescuers overcome victim’s resistance to pluck him from river
NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. — The man who jumped into the Niagara River and washed over the the Horseshoe Falls Wednesday afternoon resisted his rescuers until a city firefighter was able to snatch him out of the cold, deep waters of the Lower Niagara River as the man lapsed toward unconsciousness.
Naked and despondent, with a gash on his head, the man was caught in a slow-moving circle of frigid water below the falls when rescuers made it down a steep embankment shortly after 2 p. m. to a point where Firefighter Todd Brunning could enter the water.
By that point, the man had spurned the help of two people who had hovered above him in a helicopter.
“He wasn’t cooperative,” said the pilot, Ruedi Hafen, owner of Niagara Helicopters. “He didn’t try to be helpful. We had a sling on him and he got out of it.”
So Hafen channeled a brisk wind through his helicopter’s propellers to push the man back toward shore.
Just at that moment, Brunning, dressed in a hooded dry suit and tethered to the ground, plunged into the water near the Ontario Power Generating building and swam about 50 feet to grab hold of the man.
If the water had pushed him in any other direction, the man may not have been pulled to safety, Niagara Falls Fire Services Chief Lee Smith said later.
“If he had drifted down, we would have had no access whatsoever,” Smith said. “It’s just fortunate he was stuck in that cycle.”
Authorities said they will not identify the Canadian man, who is 30 and from western Ontario, at the request of family members. The man passed out after he was pulled from the water, but has regained consciousness and is expected to make a full recovery, Niagara Parks Police said this afternoon.
The man suffered a head injury and hypothermia, and is now in Hamilton General Hospital. His condition has been upgraded from critical to stable, parks police said.
The man jumped into the upper rapids above the Horseshoe Falls in Canada and was in the water for more than 40 minutes. The force of the falls stripped him of his clothing on his 167-foot plunge, his rescuers believe.
Only two others are known to have survived a plunge over Niagara Falls without a barrel or a protective device in the last 50 years.
“It’s amazing that he survived that long,” Smith said. “He was very close to not being able to keep himself afloat anymore.”
Judy MacPherson, of Thorold, Ont., was walking above the falls during the commotion.
“It was quite an extraordinary rescue,” MacPherson said. She said she first thought it was a dead body floating in the water below, but then realized firefighters were pulling a live man to safety.
“That’s astounding that he lived,” MacPherson said.
A tourist who saw the man hop a fence and jump into the water reported the incident by calling 911 at about 2:11 p. m., Smith said.
Firefighters thought they were headed to Table Rock to help a heart attack victim when they rushed to the brink of the Horseshoe Falls, but it didn’t take long to get a true picture of the emergency. New information came in shortly after that someone had entered the water.
“Generally, there’s nothing for us to do at that point.” Smith said.
This rescue was different.
Niagara Parks Police were able to guide firefighters to the Maid of the Mist driveway up to the power building, where they could enter the water.
The river’s temperature was just above freezing, and ice floes could be seen in the area, Smith said.
The Horseshoe Falls is 167 feet high and the pool of water beneath it is equally as deep.
“It’s pretty remarkable really that he could survive in the icy waters, especially after going over the falls. . .,” Niagara Parks Police Chief Doug W. Kane said. “To survive that long in the icy waters is almost unheard of.”
Firefighters said they do not know why the man jumped into the water, but they believe he did not want to survive.
“Normally, if someone knowingly jumps in, they’re trying to end their lives,” said Smith, the fire chief. “They deserve to be saved as much as anybody.”
Brunning said firefighters train twice a year for water rescues. When he entered the water, dressed in a “dry suit,” a helmet and a personal flotation device, cold water and mist began to spray into his face.
Niagara Falls Fire Services, along with Niagara Parks Police, Niagara Helicopters and Niagara Emergency Medical Service, have been training together for coordinated gorge rescue efforts for about five years.
“It paid off,” Brunning said.
Brunning said the man was “semi-conscious” and his muscles were rigid when he reached him in the water.
Eight firefighters were on shore to help pull Brunning and the man to the edge, where they could pull the man into a yellow basket and up a steep embankment.
A U. S. man, Kirk Jones, became only the second person to survive plunging over the Horseshoe Falls without a barrel on Oct. 21, 2003, in an apparent stunt that one longtime Niagara River rescuer called a “one-in-a-million chance.”
The first person pulled from the river alive after going over the cataract was Roger Woodward, who survived a fall over the Horseshoe Falls after the boat he was in capsized in the Upper Niagara River in 1960, when he was 7 years old. He was wearing a life vest.
The parks police High Angle River Team, about 20 firefighters, and several ambulance personnel and police officers took part in Wednesday’s rescue, along with Niagara Helicopters, a private Niagara Falls, Ont. company. Hafen owns the company and is a member of the High Angle River Team.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
abesecker@buffnews.com djgee@buffnews.com
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments