Spectators were shocked as a mom and her child fell into the water at Niagara Falls.
The five-year-old boy, who plunged 90 feet into Buffalo, New York’s Niagara Gorge, was rescued. He underwent surgery and was said to be in serious condition at the Oishei Children’s Hospital in Buffalo. His mom didn’t make it.
State Park Police withheld the boy’s identity and any other information regarding his mother due to the boy’s young age and “an ongoing investigation” into the incident that resulted in the fall. When his mother slipped or leaped with the child over a railing into the area between Terrapin Point and the Cave of the Winds on Goat Island, she was injured and subsequently tragically died.
Park police questioned the boy’s father, who was present during the incident, as well as other witnesses who were there.
The family was from India and brought their little boy with them to Niagara Falls.
The victims were found in an overhang that extended from the face of the gorge’s wall, according to rescuers.
Rescuers arrived at the scene quickly and did CPR on the mother while retrieving the youngster. According to the medical assessment, the child was stable enough to be evacuated. He was transported on the elevator to the Cave of the Winds.
The New York State Police Aviation Division requested a helicopter because the mother’s body was discovered in a difficult area to access. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to State Parks Police Captain Chris Rola, the incident was not likely an accident. It was later ruled a suicide.
In a 2009 study that was published in the Journal of Travel Medicine, the Golden Gate Bridge in California, the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland, and Niagara Falls and Park were all referred to as suicide “hotspots.”