A five-year-old boy was rescued after falling 90 feet into the Niagara Gorge in Buffalo, New York. Media outlets reported that he was in serious condition at Oishei Children’s Hospital in Buffalo following surgery.
State Park Police did not name the boy or disclose any other information on the boy’s mother due to the child’s age and “an ongoing investigation” into the event that led to his fall. His mother fell over a railing into the gap between Terrapin Point and the Cave of the Winds on Goat Island, where she was injured and later died.
Park police questioned the boy’s father, who saw the accident, and other witnesses who were around when it happened.
The couple and their child were tourists from India who had come to Niagara Falls.
Rescuers described the location of the victims as an overhang that protruded from the face of the gorge wall.
They hurried to get to the victims and were able to take the child while giving the mother CPR. According to the evaluation, the boy was stable enough to be pulled out. He was brought up on the elevator toward the Cave of the Winds.
Due to the challenging terrain where the mother’s body was discovered, a helicopter from the New York State Police Aviation Division was requested. The mother was eventually declared dead at the site.
State Parks Police Captain Chris Rola said that although park police have stated that their investigation remains ongoing, they don’t think the occurrence was an accident.
A study in 2009 published in the Journal of Travel Medicine identified Niagara Falls as a suicide “hotspot” with other monuments such as the Golden Gate Bridge in California and the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland.
