Man Survives Niagara Falls Jump, Authorities Believe Intentional

A man has survived the 180 foot drop over Niagara Falls on Monday in what authorities believe may have been a suicide attempt.

CBS News reports that the man, believed to be in his 40s, climbed over a railing at about 10:20 a.m. and jump into the Niagara River about 20 or 30 feet above the Horseshoe Falls.

The man was seen going over Horseshoe Falls, the tallest of the three falls, and then surfacing in the lower Niagara River basin, near the “Journey Behind The Falls” observation platform.

The man was pulled from the river about two hours later, and taken to the hospital for what authorities described as “life-threatening injuries.”

The man is only the fourth person to go over the Falls without protection and survive. According to The Winnipeg Free Press, the man was swimming around in the river when the Niagara Parks Commission Police and Niagara Fire arrived at the scene.

He has not yet been identified, and his statement has not been released regarding what happened.

WIVB reports that the man is being treated for hypothermia, as well as a large wound on his forehead. He was lifted by crane from the river and wrapped in blankets, before being transported to the hospital by helicopter.

The last person to survive going over Niagara Falls with no equipment was a Canadian man in 2009. According to CBS News, in October 2003, Kirk Jones survived a suicide attempt over the falls. Jones was an out-of-work auto parts salesman. The only other known survivor of the falls drop was in 1960, when seven-year-old Roger Woodward was swept over the falls wearing a life jacket.

[Photo courtesy of WIVB]

Check out footage of the 30-year-old Canadian man’s jump from Niagara Falls in 2009 here:

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