Japanese student swept over, lost at Niagara Falls

NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario — A 19-year-old Japanese student was swept over Niagara Falls and presumed drowned after falling from a railing on the Canadian side of the Niagara River, Niagara Parks Police said Monday.

She was visiting the falls with a friend Sunday evening when she climbed over the railing and straddled it while holding an umbrella.

The woman apparently lost her balance and fell into the water when she stood up to climb back over, police said.

She fell into the swift-moving river about 25 meters upstream from the brink of the Horseshoe Falls.

Foul play is not suspected.

"It appears from the review of surveillance video that this incident was a tragic accident," a Niagara Parks Police news release said.

The department said it was working with the Japanese Consulate General to notify the victim's family. Her name was being withheld pending the notification.

The body had not been found by midday Monday, but the remains of an unidentified male were recovered from the whirlpool below the falls after being spotted by an Erie County Sheriff's Department helicopter search crew.

Police and the coroner were working to identify him; police said his death appears to be unrelated.

Considered one of the world's three greatest waterfalls along with Iguazu Falls in South America and Victoria Falls in southern Africa, Niagara, which includes Horseshoe and American Falls, draws about 11 million visitors a year.

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