Coast Guard diver pulls body from car above Niagara Falls

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. – A U.S. Coast Guard diver lowed from the entity Wednesday braved frigid rapids to get to a car submerged successful h2o adjacent the brink of Niagara Falls, lone to find it was excessively precocious to rescue the operator trapped inside.

The diver was lowered from a hovering helicopter, climbed into the car and pulled retired the assemblage of its lone occupant, a pistillate successful her 60s, officials from New York's State Park Police said.

Video shows the rescuer, successful an orangish suit and a helmet, warring against beardown upwind and h2o to participate done the rider broadside of the achromatic car.

“It was an unthinkable occupation by the Coast Guard,” Park Police Capt. Christopher Rola said astatine a quality conference.

It was unclear however the car got into the Niagara River. Witnesses reported seeing it floating adjacent a pedestrian bridge, wherever it was believed to person gone in. Roads successful the country were slippery arsenic a airy snowfall fell.

Photos and videos taken by bystanders showed the car astir wholly submerged with lone portion of the extortion and unfastened trunk hatch disposable done the whitewater successful the aboriginal afternoon.

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Police utilized a drone to find it was occupied.

Authorities said the pistillate lived successful the area. Her sanction was not released pending notification of her relatives.

After the rescue, the conveyance remained astir 50 yards (meters) from the brink of the American Falls, 1 of 3 waterfalls that marque up Niagara Falls. Onlookers watched arsenic exigency crews prepared to effort to propulsion the conveyance from the water.

Rola said the State Park department’s swift-water rescue teams had been incapable to get to the car due to the fact that of its location.

Niagara Falls has a past of attracting some daredevils who effort to cheat decease by plunging implicit successful homemade contraptions, and those driven by suicide.

Rescuers, however, had ne'er been called for a conveyance truthful adjacent to the edge, Rola said.

He said investigators would effort to find whether the conveyance coiled up successful the h2o by mishap oregon intentionally.

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