New York State Police confirmed Thursday that a body pulled from the lower Niagara River in late July was that of Aung S. Hla, an 18-year-old Buffalo resident and recent Kenmore West High School graduate who fell into the rapids while fishing in a restricted area a week earlier. The confirmation closes out a monthslong mystery that began when Hla slipped from rocks along the shore and vanished into the swift water near Niagara Falls.
Hla was fishing with five other people at the bottom of the stairs in Whirlpool State Park on a Wednesday morning when he fell into the water, according to police cited by The Buffalo News. The area where the group had gathered is marked as off-limits, underscoring how a routine fishing trip turned into a tragedy within moments.
Days later, Canadian authorities spotted a body floating in the lower Niagara River and New York State Park Police deployed a drone to monitor and track it as it moved downstream, according to a report from btpm.org. State Park Police, with help from the U.S. Coast Guard Niagara Station, ultimately recovered the body from the river.
A Binational Search Effort
The recovery came after a bi-national search that stretched across agencies on both sides of the border. Personnel from New York State Park Police, Canadian Park Police, New York State Police, the Niagara Falls Fire Department, the U.S. Coast Guard, and aviation units from Erie and Niagara counties all took part, per the same btpm.org account.
In the immediate aftermath of the recovery, there was confusion about whose remains had been found. A contemporaneous report from cnhi.com stated that police at the scene did not believe the body was that of the missing 18-year-old, with identification still pending at the time. Months later, state police confirmed the opposite: the body recovered was indeed Hla's, according to The Buffalo News report published this week.
From State Police to the Medical Examiner's Office
New York State Park Police turned the remains over to New York State Police, which in turn handed them to the Erie County Medical Examiner's Office. Buffalo News reporter Stephen T. Watson, who covers development, government, crime and schools in the northern Erie County suburbs, authored the confirmation report.
A River Known for Deceptive Danger
The tragedy adds to a troubling pattern along the Niagara River, where swift-moving waters can exceed 10 mph despite a deceptively calm appearance, as The Buffalo News reported following a separate incident in which two men drowned after police divers were called to the water. Officials have said it is not uncommon to see people entering the river in areas where undercurrents pose serious hazards, and signs near spots like Buffalo's Broderick Park warn of swift water and prohibit swimming altogether.
For now, the confirmation brings a definitive, if painful, answer to a case that had stretched on for months. Hla's fall near Whirlpool State Park, and the drone-assisted recovery effort that followed it days later in the lower Niagara River, stand as a stark reminder of how quickly the river's currents can turn deadly for anyone who steps too close to its edge.
