<object width="640" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/q72uhQeTCmM?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/q72uhQeTCmM?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="360" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8399970/terror-bungee-fall-like-being-slapped-tourist Terror bungee fall like being slapped: tourist An Australian tourist says she felt like she was "slapped all over" after her bungee jumping cord snapped and she plunged into the Zambesi River, on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. Erin Langworthy, 22, was forced to swim through the rapids with her feet still tied together after she fell from the Victoria Falls bridge, 111-metres above the water, on New Year's Eve. "It went black straight away and I felt like I'd been slapped all over," Ms Langworthy told Nine News in an interview. Ms Langworthy said luckily she had been white water rafting the previous day and remembered some of the safety tips to get through the rapids. "The water was going quite quickly and then I started to hear the roaring," she said. "It's like being in waves, you get sucked under and then you pop up so it's very disorienting, I didn’t know which was up or down." The young tourist managed to swim to the Zimbabwe side of the river after seeing it was closest. "It was quite scary because a couple of times the rope actually got caught on some rocks or debris," she said. "I actually had to swim down and yank the bungee cord out of whatever it was caught on to make it to the surface." Ms Langworthy suffered a fractured collar bone as well as massive bruising in the accident. Southern Province police commissioner Brenda Muntemba told the Post Zambia that Ms Langworthy was treated at Victoria Falls clinic in Zimbabwe before being evacuated to South Africa. The jump was organised by a company called Safari Par Excellency.
Company's homepage: http://www.victoriafalls.net/bunjee_jumping.htm 111 metres of pure adrenaline rush! The bungi jump operates off the Victoria Falls Bridge and has a 100% safety record. Over 50 000 people have committed themselves to the thrill of jumping off the bridge. Challenge the limits of the mind and test the edge of fear by leaping off the impressive bridge, with the Falls behind and the mighty Zambezi below. Ankle and body harnesses are attached separately to clients. After jumping they are winched back onto the bridge. Photographs and video are taken of each jumper and are available for purchase. Minimum age 14 years Minimum weight of 40 kg, maximum weight of 140 kg Passports are required by clients to access the bridge Jumps operate from 09h00 to 17h00 every day
Safe to say this girl won't be trying out for the next Krazy Glue commercial... <object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/g36gZ0zL7tk?version=3&feature=player_detailpage"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/g36gZ0zL7tk?version=3&feature=player_detailpage" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="360"></object>
Correct answer: This is why if you are going to bungee jump, do it over reasonably deep water, not a parking lot. It's not just the cord snapping - you also have miscalculated ones where your head is just low enough to smack the ground. Survival rate of bungee jump fails over parking lot: 0% Survival rate of bungee jump fails over water > 0%.
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I have a crippling fear of heights, and just recently "faced" them by going paragliding in the swiss alps. I have never felt more alive. Switzerland is not exactly Zimbabwe, so I had a little bit more trust in my experience than she likely did, but take it from a guy who swore all that risk was worthless and merely torturous, the reward far outweighs the contrary. You are far more likely to incur injury or accident in your car, if you are a numbers guy. My outlook on what I could and could not do changed after I jumped off that cliff. It was nothing short of transcendental. #jussayin Still would never bungee jump, but I now want to paraglide everywhere I can in the world. Glad she is ok. I can only imagine what was going through her head.
Paragliding seems like a cakewalk in terms of risk compared to Bungee jumping. Even if the cables give way or something, you're still in a parachute... worst you'll do is land awkwardly and break a bone or something. With Bungee, if it fails, you're likely dead meat, or at the very least paralyzed.
well, no. the worst you could do is crash into the mountain or catch a gust of wind and your chute collapses and you are unable to regain lift, and fall to the ground. so in a sense, it could be as dangerous as a bungee fall. aviation sports all involve these meteorological risks, but yeah, i'm not going bungee jumping. paragliding is a cakewalk, it's the jumping off the mountain that is terrifying. i'm not sure what the statistics are on pargliding or basejumping versus bungee or skydiving. just pointing out that someone, like myself, would be narrow minded to let an outlier incident like this one prevent themselves from enjoying some controlled risk. you gotta live sometimes.
Well, at the very least you have at least some amount of control over your fate in a paragliding accident scenario. Meanwhile, in bungee jumping, it's gravity vs. just you, and gravity is undefeated in those fights. And even in the worst case scenario for paragliding, you have a significantly larger chance of surviving than with bungee. I'll take a hard landing into a mountain or collapsed parachute fall vs. head first into concrete or a shallow river at terminal velocity. I'd love to paraglide, but bungee seems like a waste. I'd rather go skydiving (tandem, of course) than bungee. If I'm gonna go splat, I want it to be spectacular
I've done paragliding (in Davos, tandem with an experienced professional). It was unbelievably cold up there. Definitely an amazing experience, but Donny, can't confirm what you say about the risk. If you are really unlucky, you can crash and you can't do anything about it. It's a weird feeling - there's just nothing below you and when you are over a forest, you seem to get lifted up, but you also go through "holes" where you don't seem to get any thermic wind from below and seem to lose height rapidly. I would also probably do parachuting before I would do bungee jumping. That video didn't really help in that regard . Amazing that she survived (there were also lots of crocodiles in that river).
Yeah I was thinking... not enough freaking out, but more watching and censoring any other curse words. And somehow through my wicked Youtubing skills, I ran into the bungee prank. That stuff is wrong. I would be crying like 3 hours after the prank if that was me. /derail thread
