12 March,2009 07:56 AM IST | | AP
A man was plucked from the Niagara River after surviving a dramatic plunge over the majestic Niagara Falls that straddle the Canada-US border, police said.
At around 2:00 pm 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.
| u00a0 |
| A man is seen in the frigid Niagara River after witnesses said he went over the Horseshoe Falls Wednesday PIC/AP |
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 shore and wearing a dry suit, went into the river and dragged him out, police said.
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.
The Niagara Falls are the most powerful falls 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.
The last time someone survived a plunge from these falls was in 2003.
