Female body pulled from Niagara River identified
Posted August 19, 2011 12:24 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A female body that was found Thursday in the lower Niagara River belonged to an international student from Japan, Niagara Parks Police Service told CityNews.
The family of Ayano Tokumasu, 20, has been notified, they said.
The young woman, who was studying English at the Hansa Language Centre in Toronto, was visiting Niagara Falls on Aug. 14 when her accident occurred.
Tokumasu was sightseeing with a friend at Table Rock on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls when she climbed onto the railing on the river’s edge and sat on one of the pillars to pose for a photo.
She then stood up with her legs straddling the railing and apparently lost her footing and fell into the Niagara River.
Police said she was holding an umbrella at the time, which may have contributed to her losing her balance.
She was about 20 metres upstream from Niagara Falls and was swept over the edge in the fast-flowing waters.
Tokumasu’s body was found by an employee at the Cave of the Winds, a tourist attraction on the U.S. side. An autopsy was performed Friday at a hospital in Buffalo, N.Y.
With files from The Canadian Press
