Man Survives a Suicide Attempt at Niagara Falls

By surviving a purposeful 180-foot plunge on Monday, a man becomes only the third person in history known to live after plunging over the falls without a safety device.

Witnesses told police that they saw a man "deliberately jump" into the Niagara River at around 10:20 a.m. He had climbed over a railing over Horseshoe Falls, the tallest of the three main falls. Although Platoon Chief Dan Orescanin of the Niagara Falls, Ontario, Fire Department said that the man, described as being in his 30s or 40s, was "able to get to out on his own," he suffered critical injuries. According to Orescanin, the jumper appreared to have a collapsed lung and broken ribs, as well as other chest injuries. He was airlifted to Hamilton General Hospital, where Agnes Bongers, the hospital's spokeswoman, said that he was expected to survive.

Roger Woodward was 7 years old and wearing no protection other than a life jacket when he survived being swept over the waterfall -- which has more than 6 million cubic feet of water rushing over its edge every minute during daytime tourist hours. Although Woodward's fall was accidental, this individual's descent was not. “Based on witness statements and surveillance video, it doesn’t appear in any way, shape, or form that this was anything other than a suicide attempt,” Niagara Parks Police Sgt. Chris Gallagher told WIVB in Buffalo.

There are others like this man, whose name has not been released by authorities. In October of 2003, an unemployed salesman from Michigan survived a suicide attempt at the falls, and nearly six years later, in March of 2009, so did another 30-year-old.

Not everyone who drops over the falls is attempting to take their own life. People have been taking the risk as a stunt, beginning with Annie Edison Taylor in 1901. Laws now prohibit performing stunts in the area, but an exception was granted recently to Nik Wallenda. Wallenda is a daredevil who plans to walk over Niagara Falls on a tightrope in a few weeks.

Rescuers pulled the man back up the cliff after rappelling down and putting him in a basket. Then the basket was lifted with ropes suspended from an aerial truck. The rescue took approximately two hours.