Man flees rescuers after Niagara Falls plunge

Sankari · 12 Mar 2009 at 23:20

A man has been plucked from the Niagara River after surviving a dramatic plunge over Niagara Falls, police say.

About 2:00pm (local time) a tourist saw the man, believed to be in his late 30s, crawl over a wall and enter rapids south of the falls, the Niagara Park Police said in a statement.

Moments later, he was swept over the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side, dropping some 56 metres into the river.

A Canadian rescue team attempted to extract him, "but he refused any assistance and swam further away into the river", police said.

The man then grabbed onto a log, and a private helicopter used the air flow from its main rotor to push the man closer to shore.

A Niagara Falls firefighter, tethered to the shore and wearing a dry suit, went into the river and dragged him out.

The man was taken to hospital and treated for a head injury and hypothermia after being immersed in the river's cold waters for almost 45 minutes.

Source.

So he falls 59 metres OVER A GIANT WATERFALL and still manages to SWIM AWAY from rescuers?! :eek:

Give this man a passport and sign him up for London 2012!

V4NT0M · 12 Mar 2009 at 23:21

Note, he had head injuries.

meghatronic · 12 Mar 2009 at 23:23

"The man then grabbed onto a log, and a private helicopter used the air flow from its main rotor to push the man closer to shore."

That's just awesome.

Martins · 12 Mar 2009 at 23:23

Skyfall said:
Note, he had head injuries.

Oh god there are demons on the riverbank!

Sankari · 12 Mar 2009 at 23:35

Skyfall said:
Note, he had head injuries.

Yeah, but they didn't stop him from swimming away. Come on, this bloke's a cracker!

Solari · 13 Mar 2009 at 07:58

He obviously wanted to end it all and was almost certainly sure of what the desired result was.... I bet he feels quite peed off for being "rescued" - poor bloke

The rescuers will slap themselves on the forehead when he tries it again at some point in the near future

DampCat · 13 Mar 2009 at 08:19

He was trying to kill himself... i thought that was reported as common knowledge as soon as the news broke?

They don't have the NHS over there, so death rarely comes at the hands of doctors and rescuers

wordy · 13 Mar 2009 at 08:24

Evangelion said:
Yeah, but they didn't stop him from swimming away. Come on, this bloke's a cracker!

Agreed, beats the **** out of our diving team!

semi-pro waster · 13 Mar 2009 at 08:33

Skyfall said:
Note, he had head injuries.

Ok then, we'll give him a dunt to the head before putting him in the pool. Seems a little bit harsh to me but perhaps you're right and he needs that incentive...

div0 · 13 Mar 2009 at 09:04

Isn't it an offence to deliberately go over the falls? Probably the reason he tried to swim away once he realised he'd survived. I doubt the rescuers would swim after him once he made any sort of effort to evade them, if doing so would place them in unnecessary danger as well.

Sankari · 13 Mar 2009 at 09:59

DampCat said:
They don't have the NHS over there, so death rarely comes at the hands of doctors and rescuers

You're thinking of the USA. The story is about a man in Canada, where they do indeed have a national healthcare service.

Sankari · 13 Mar 2009 at 10:04

div0 said:
Isn't it an offence to deliberately go over the falls? Probably the reason he tried to swim away once he realised he'd survived. I doubt the rescuers would swim after him once he made any sort of effort to evade them, if doing so would place them in unnecessary danger as well.

Yes, it is an offence and yes, that does give jumpers an incentive to leave the scene asap.

I haven't seen any news source claiming that he was actually suicidal, though the Guardian said he was "apparently trying to kill himself".