The Associated Press
(March 26, 2007) — NIAGARA FALLS — An illegal immigrant was rescued from an ice floe less than a mile upstream from Niagara Falls, authorities said. Guards from Ontario Power Generation said they heard the man screaming for help at about 4:30 a.m. Saturday near the company's water intakes near Chippawa, Ont.
Rescuers in boats plucked the shivering man from the ice floe and got him ashore.
Authorities said the unidentified 42-year-old man had an inflatable air mattress with him and was apparently trying to get to the United States. The ice chunk he was on apparently broke loose. The man was being charged by Canadian immigration authorities.
First, this guy was incredibly lucky to be heard at 4:30 a.m. and lucky he was not sucked through the water intake gates for the hydro plant. Second, he must have been desperate or stupid, or both, to attempt to cross the Niagara River. However, that does give me some slight assurance. Because if somebody would rather face the river than border control agents on the bridges, that has to be a good thing. I was not able to find any mention of the man's nationality. Now if ALL of the US Border could be as secure...
Everything you ever wanted to know about Niagara at Thunder Alley.
2 comments:
he must have been desperate or stupid, or both, to attempt to cross the Niagara River.
"Stupid" gets my vote. An air mattress? On an ice floe? LOL!
I was one of the volunteer firefighters who rescued this man. He was attempting to cross an ice jam at the south end of the Niagara River between Fort Erie and Buffalo. His air mattress deflated early in the process and he fell into the freezing river before pulling himself onto a small ice floe difting downstream towards Niagara Falls.
The newspaper article was only half-correct (as usual) - he was so hypothermic when we got to him that he couldn't even talk, let alone scream. The OPG (Ontario Power Generation) workers weren't attracted by his cries for help (there weren't any), they saw him through the high-power binoculars they use to scan the river from their control tower. He was very lucky to have survived the experience - when we arrived he was close to the upper rapids and was too far gone to even shuffle across his little ice cake to the safety of our boat.
The man was not stupid, just ignorant of the geography and weather here. It was such a brutally cold night WE were shivering in our waterproof protective gear, while he had the stamina to endure several freezing hours, dripping wet in the bitter wind while drifting 18 miles downstream and surely terrified. Although sadly uninformed, he was no more "stupid" than the hordes of U.S. tourists that arrive here every year looking for Eskimos, husky's and snow (in July).
The border guards on both sides of the Niagara Frontier are vigilant, not vicious, so if savage defense of the international boundary is what makes you feel happy and secure you are doomed to disappointment.
You comments make me wonder why anyone would risk their life to join a society so sadly lacking in compassion.
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