This guy had an air mattress for safty and tried to cross into the United States on the ice above Niagara Falls. I'll let you read the rest of the story instead of revealing it.

This was as dangerous as it gets:

Niagara Falls Gazette/Osprey News

"Man rescued from Niagara River

JOHN ROBBINS
Local News - Saturday, March 24, 2007 Updated @ 3:29:16 PM

An unidentified 42-year-old man is lucky to be alive after being plucked

from an ice floe in the upper Niagara River early Saturday.

The incident happened around 4:40 a.m., when Niagara Parks Police received a

call for assistance.


Police, with the assistance of the Niagara Falls Fire Department, rescued

the man from a platform of ice located about 25 feet from shore, not far

from the Niagara River control gates. The man was taken to Greater Niagara

General Hospital, where he was treated for a mild case of hypothermia.

Police have not released the name of the man, his citizenship or any other

personal details.

After being interviewed by police and Canadian immigration officers, the man

was arrested under provisions of the Canada Immigration Act."

Illegal immigrant plucked off river ice
Apparently sought to enter United States
By Michael Beebe NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: 03/25/07 8:25 AM


An illegal immigrant was plucked from the Niagara River ice by firefighters in a dramatic rescue early Saturday, just above the water power intake gates on the Canadian side of the river.

Security guards from Ontario Power Generation said they heard the man screaming for help about 4:30 a.m. Saturday, about three-quarters of a mile from the brink of Niagara Falls.

The man’s most immediate danger though was being sucked into the power company’s water intakes near Chippawa, Ont.

“If he hadn’t been discovered,” said Peter Larsen, a control dam operator at the intakes, “he would have gone through one of those gates and then very likely could have been swept over the Falls.”

Instead, alerted by Niagara Parks Police, the dam operator started shutting down the intakes while firefighters from the Niagara Falls (Ont.) Fire Department dispatched two rescue boats and a nearby shore crew.

“We had our water rescue gear on. We were all dressed up ready to go in case he fell into the water,” said fire platoon Chief Jim Bredin.

The rescue boats arrived just in time and safely plucked the shivering man from the ice floe and got him ashore.

“If he could have moved his arms,” Bredin said of the near-frozen man, “I think he would have hugged us.”

Authorities are not exactly sure where the man stepped onto the river ice but he was apparently trying to get to the United States.

The ice chunk he was on apparently broke loose, and by the time it reached the water intakes, was reduced to a diameter of 25 to 30 feet, firefighters said.

Bredin said the man had a flotation device with him — an inflatable air mattress — but had obviously misjudged both the ice and the deceptively mild weather Friday night and Saturday morning.

The 42-year-old man, whose identity was not released, was treated for mild hypothermia in Greater Niagara General Hospital before being charged by Canadian immigration authorities.

Harry Rosettani of Fort Erie, Ont., contributed to this report