Man Apparently Tries to Commit Suicide by Plunging Over Niagara Falls... but Lives

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (The Blaze/AP) — A man has plunged at least 180 feet over Niagara Falls in an apparent suicide attempt.

The unidentified man was only the third person known to have gone over the falls without a safety device and lived.

Niagara Parks Police say witnesses reported seeing the man climb over a railing at 10:20 a.m. Monday and "deliberately jump" above Horseshoe Falls and into the Niagara River. He surfaced in the river basin near an observation platform.

Watch this report via the BXhan News YouTube channel:

Rescuers in the report said the slope they had to go down to rescue the man was difficult.

The man, believed to be in his early 40s, was rescued about two hours after he collapsed in waist-deep water near the rocky shore. A waiting helicopter flew him to a hospital. A hospital spokeswoman says he has critical but non-life-threatening injuries.

Niagara Parks Police say it appears the jump was a suicide attempt.

According to Niagara Falls Live, the first person to survive the plunge -- not in a barrel or with other devices -- was Kirk Jones "with only the clothes on his back" in 2003.