Man survives plunge into Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls emergency officials rescue a man who plunged over Niagara Falls and survived in an apparent suicide attempt, Monday, May 21, 2012. The man is only the third person known to have gone over without a safety device and live. A waiting helicopter flew him to Hamilton General Hospital, where a spokeswoman says he has critical but non-life-threatening injuries. (AP Photo/Harry Rossetani)

MONTREAL—A man who leaped into Niagara Falls survived but has been hospitalized in critical condition, authorities said Tuesday.

The unidentified man was rescued around noon on Monday about two hours after witnesses reported seeing him scale a protective wall at the popular tourist attraction and “deliberately jump” into the water, the Niagara Parks Police Service said in a statement.

“The male subject was witnessed going over the Horseshoe Falls and surface in the lower Niagara River basin adjacent the Journey Behind the Falls observation platform,” the statement said.

“The subject was located by a Niagara Parks Police officer along the rocky shoreline as he collapsed in waters that were up to the subject’s waist.”

The statement said the man suffered “life-threatening injuries” and was taken to a hospital. An investigation is under way.

In August, US authorities recovered the body of a young Japanese woman who was swept over the powerful cascades along the US-Canada border.

The Niagara police said only three people have survived the plunge unprotected. They were a Canadian man attempting suicide in 2009; an American man accused of staging a stunt in 2003; and a seven-year-old boy who in 1960 was swept over the falls wearing only a life vest.

The Niagara Falls are the most powerful in North America. They were formed by receding glaciers at the end of the last ice age, with an average four million cubic feet of water from the Great Lakes flowing over the crest each minute and carving a path to the Atlantic Ocean.