NIAGARA FALLS, ONT.

Experienced rescuers said it's "amazing" a man survived going over Niagara Falls Monday morning - only the fourth time someone has taken the 54-metre plunge and lived.

An unidentified man went over the Horseshoe Falls in what police say was an unsuccessful suicide bid that unfolded in front of hundreds of Victoria Day tourists.

Rescuers found him at the bottom of the Horseshoe Falls, on the rocks near the Journey Behind the Falls attraction.

Niagara Parks Police and firefighters were called to the area at 10:20 a.m., after receiving unconfirmed reports from tourists that a man had gone over the falls.

After interviewing witnesses and checking surveillance tape, police confirmed the man had gone into the water about six to 10 metres upriver from the brink of the Horseshoe Falls.

"We have confirmed reports from witnesses that he entered (the water) above the Canadian Horseshoe Falls and was swept over the falls. He went over the falls and survived," said parks police Sgt. Chris Gallagher, the first rescuer to make contact with the man.

"He did this of his own accord."

A police report states the man climbed over the retaining wall near the brink of the falls and deliberately jumped into the water.

He was seen going over the falls, then spotted by witnesses surfacing in the lower river near the observation deck at the Journey Behind the Falls.

It's only the fourth time a person is known to have survived a plunge over the falls, without a protective device like a barrel.

• In July 1960, a boy named Roger Woodward was swept over after a boating mishap on the upper Niagara River. He was wearing a life-jacket.

• In October 2003, Michigan man Kirk Jones survived after going over fully clothed.

• In March 2009, an unidentified man survived in the frigid lower river for 45 minutes while firefighters and a helicopter pilot fished him out.

Gallagher described Monday's survivor as being middle-aged, but did not release his name, his hometown or any indication why he went into the water. Police typically do not release the names of people who have attempted suicide.

The plunge and the two-hour rescue that followed unfolded in front of hundreds of tourists taking in the view of Niagara Falls on the Victoria Day holiday.

Pat Lumbers of Toronto was parking his car when the fire trucks arrive.

When he saw the man at the water's edge, he figured it had to be a Maid of the Mist passenger who had fallen overboard.

"I don't see how he can get there if he didn't come through the water. I think he came of the boat," Lumbers said.

Lumbers went to the edge of the gorge to watch the commotion after the parking attendant told him it must be a real rescue "because they never send that many fire trucks."

Gallagher and firefighter Brandon Fife treated the man at the water's edge. The man was shirtless and appeared to be wearing blue pants.

The fire department sent six members of its rappel team to the water's edge with a yellow rescue basket.

"He had some abrasions to the head and rest of his body. He was in good condition, considering," fire department platoon Chief Dan Orescanin said. Firefighters were working from initial reports from tourists that the man had gone over the falls.

"When we arrived, he was already on the shoreline with parks police. From our reports, it's amazing, if that's what happened," Orescanin said.

Despite suffering what police later described as life-threatening injuries, the man was sitting up at the river's edge.

Rescuers wrapped him in a silver, foil-like emergency blanket. He was later immobilized by firefighters and loaded into a rescue basket to be lifted to the top of the gorge.

He had gashes on his head and appeared to be suffering from hypothermia and shock, Gallagher said.

"He was conscious. He understood what we were saying to him," Gallagher said, adding the man didn't communicate very well with his rescuers.

The terrain was challenging for firefighters, who carried the patient in the yellow rescue basket up the wet, rocky slope at the edge of the river to a flatter area where they connected the basket to a line dangling from an aerial fire truck positioned at the north side of Table Rock.

"They had to do a lot of climbing while they were down there," Orescanin said.

After firefighters used an aerial truck to lift the man from the bottom of the gorge to Table Rock Complex, he was loaded into an air ambulance and transferred to Hamilton General Hospital. He was said to be in critical condition.

corey.larocque@sunmedia.ca