Car appears to have been put in Niagara River intentionally

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (WIVB) — It appears the driver of the car seen in the Niagara River on Wednesday intended to get it there.

As of Thursday morning, the car was still in the water, but the body of the driver, who has not yet been positively identified, was removed hours after the car was seen.

MORE | Coast Guard pulls body from edge of Niagara Falls after car gets submerged in rapids

DRAMATIC VIDEO: The U.S. Coast Guard made a daring rescue attempt Wednesday at the edge of Niagara Falls, dropping a diver from a helicopter to pull a body out of a car that somehow entered the rapids about 50 yards from the edge of the falls. https://t.co/Nrn9dY7Gmo pic.twitter.com/OMaYznePqF
— News 4 Buffalo (@news4buffalo) December 8, 2021

Police say the deceased was a local woman in her late 60s. Her official cause of death has not been determined.

The man who pulled her body from the submerged car, aviation survival technician Derrian Duryea, says his team’s biggest concern was the position of the car.

“Was the car gonna move? What were we gonna do if I was down there and the car started to move,” he says.

It’s still not clear how the car got there, but it remains near the edge of Niagara Falls. Overnight, the car appears to have turned upside down and drifted at least 40 yards.

Overnight the car drifted at least 40 yards. Now it’s upside down within about 40 feet of the brink of Niagara Falls ⁦@news4buffalo⁩ pic.twitter.com/kR84lCsRvl
— George Richert (@GeorgeRichert4) December 9, 2021

The Niagara Falls State Park Operations Team is trying to determine how to get it out of the water.

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