Niagara Falls, Ontario – A 19-year-old Japanese student was swept over Niagara Falls and presumed drowned after falling from a railing along the Canadian side of the Niagara River, Niagara Parks Police said Monday.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The woman was visiting the falls with a friend at about 8:30 p.m. Sunday when she climbed over the railing and straddled it while holding an umbrella. The woman apparently lost her balance and fell into the water when she stood up to climb back over, police said. She fell into the swift-moving river about 80 feet upstream from the brink of the Horseshoe Falls.
Foul play is not suspected.
“It appears from the review of surveillance video that this incident was a tragic accident,” a Niagara Parks Police news release said.
The department said it was working with the Japanese consulate general to notify the victim’s family. Her name was being withheld pending the notification.
The woman’s body had not been found by midday Monday but the remains of an unidentified male were recovered from the whirlpool below the falls after being spotted by an Erie County Sheriff’s department helicopter search crew. Police and the coroner were working to identify him; police said his death appears to be unrelated.
“…she climbed over the railing and straddled it while holding an umbrella. The woman apparently lost her balance and fell into the water when she stood up to climb back over…”
“It appears from the review of surveillance video that this incident was a tragic accident.”
That is -not- an accident. That’s what happens when people disregard safety rules.
CHEVRA: Learn from this. Not specifically about Niagara, but about whatever-ing while driving, running into the street at a don’t-walk signal, jumping over/walking around a pedestrian railing, etc. The rules are there for a reason. The reason is to stay alive.
What a truly shocking thing to happen to anyone and I am not easily shocked. My heart goes out to the poor woman’s family.
Thank you # 2 for teaching us a lesson
Disrespect the rules. Want to play with death, disregard the rules placed in effect for your safety, and protection. Have been to the falls numerous times, and have never had a problem.
Having a boat, I never went up the gorge, nor did I ever want to boat above the falls, for safety reasons.
nutty people do nutty things, and then want the world to prostrate themselves for them.