I couldn’t believe my eyes this morning when I watched this clip on SKY news. For those who haven’t witnessed it here’s the video.
The young Australian woman survived the fall, got to the river’s side, was treated by paramedics and airlifted to a hospital here in South Africa.
The news clip that I watched included perhaps a 30 second interview with her, so matter of fact, (remember her feet were still tied together when she entered the water!) so brave a truly remarkable young women.
And here’s her interview.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Morning Soutie, some friends of mine were up there when it happened. They were due to jump the next day. It seems they went back in to operation a couple of days later. I have never bungeed but I have rafted there a couple of times and have been kayacking above the falls. They have lost a few people rafting over the years but the safety elves do not have has much say in how people choose to risk their lives, so the operators keep going, which is good.
Amazing that she survived!
Bungee jumping is on my ‘never-to-do’ list… 🙂
Howzit Sipu
My daughter did Bloukrans (the worlds highest, or should that be longest bungee?) a while ago.
There’s no stopping them when they want to have a go.
I have to say that the rope used looks decidedly frayed (in the video) plus I always thought that the jumper was attached to 2 ropes as a failsafe, obviously not, well, not up there anyway 😕
Hello Boadicea
Truly amazing, how about her interview, what a brave young woman.
I drive past the worlds highest quite often, never ever has entered my mind to have a go 😉
I too have driven past and it has entered my mind, but luckily the queue has always been too long! But you have to time your journey right to ensure that is the case! 😉
It seems than that the Elf and Softy twins could do good biz down your way?
Howzit Jan (can I call you Jan? Perhaps just for this month ;)) Actually there are some pretty strict rules about operating these here in S.A. I’d assume the same rules apply up there.
My household have had a good look at the video and concluded that the rope didn’t snap but seemed to pull apart at the first join, where the elasticated cord joins the rope, we could of course be wrong.
Brave, my large hairy arris. Anyone who jumps off a bridge with an elastic band tied around their ankles is STUPID. Darwin woz robbed on this occasion.
OZ
Soutie, “I’d assume the same rules apply up there.”
Ooh, I wouldn’t do that. Well, maybe the rules exist, but I doubt very much that they are rigidly enforced by any authority. I suspect it is up to the operators, who after all put their own lives at risk every time they jump, to monitor themselves.
Oz
My ‘brave’ remark has nothing to do with her decision to jump but how she coped with her situation when in the water, instructing the paramedics and of course her whole demeanor during her interview.
Oz, I agree, and not only because it’s your name day! 🙂
Soutie – Fair point which I accept, but she is still a Darwin candidate for being stupid in the first place. Also, looking at the video you can see the outlines of a bra strap on her shoulder. Is that bruising from the fall or sunburn from being an idiot?
OZ
G’morgen, Janus. I had someone of the Danish persuasion visiting The Cave yesterday. He brought herring, Aalborg and Norwegian Linie and a jolly good time was had by all.
OZ
Go’ morgen, Oz! I do like Linie aquavit – you’ve got to relish a dram that’s been around the world first!
I think it is called getting lucky!
Probably will get run over by a no 49 bus on Clapham Common.
OZ, I hope you are only joshing, as JM would say, with all this talk of Darwin Awards. What is life without adventure and risk? You may as well suck blotting paper. Good on her is my view and good on anybody else who chooses to jump over the bridge, especially so after this event.
Anyway, I think she comes from Perth.
A very brave young lady and remarkably composed, considering she had to tell the paramedics what to do. Is your comment “I think she comes from Perth” on the same level as Basil Fawlty’s “He’s from Barcelona”?
Que?
Erin Langworthy is from Perth, WA. Is that relevant?
Apart from the fact that Aussie girls can leap buildings at a single bound …
There are some great comments here!
I’m with OZ here that “Anyone who jumps off a bridge with an elastic band tied around their ankles is STUPID.”
Sipu – there are risks and risks, and chancing one’s luck by jumping off a bridge with one’s ankles tied together and trusting that a bit of rope will not break is, as far as I’m concerned, plain STUPID…
Just a weak joke. OZ mentioned Darwin so I said Perth.
Boadicea, I can’t help thinking that if everybody was as risk averse as you appear to be, mankind would never have mastered the use of fire, learned to ride horses, sailed across the oceans, built aeroplanes, etc etc.
Statistically very few people die or are injured from bungee jumping, so to call those who participate stupid is somewhat misguided. I am sure you would not call stupid the millions of workers who every day take an elevator ride to the top of a tall building. That elevator is supported by a cable which if it breaks would probably lead to death. It does happen, but sufficiently rarely for it to be considered dangerous. I have known people who have refused to travel in ‘observation lifts’ because they look too frightening yet are happy to ride in closed lifts despite the fact that the mechanisms for both are the same. I would not call those people stupid though their behaviour would appear illogical to some. Fear and phobias exist to varying degrees in people. Some can be overcome others not.
Risk and our capacity to test and enjoy it are essential to mankind. If we lose that ability, we stagnate and die. We need to push the boundaries of human endurance.
I think it would be more honest simply to say that you would be too scared to jump rather than denigrate those who do.
Some may find this interesting.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/newzealand/3448598/Bungee-jumping-20-facts.html
Lifts, Sipu, are so designed that if the cable (usually cables) snaps, bloody great sharp spring-loaded pieces of metal shoot out into the walls, bringing the lift safely to a halt. 🙂
My younger daughter, who is generally not in the least bit stupid, in fact she is rather intelligent, did launch herself from the highest jump in New Zealand, flung herself out of a ‘plane with a parachute, did white water rafting, glacier walks and some other things I would never contemplate.
She did explain that everyone her age who visits does these things in New Zealand because there is little else to do. I think she was joking, but I’m not sure!
Don’t tell Tony D …
I won’t….
Hiya Sipu. There are, in my humble opinion, two types of risk-takers. On the one hand you have the likes of the first men on the Moon, Captain Scott, Columbus et al, whose exploits were for scientific advancement, human knowledge and other worldly motives. On the other you have ‘extreme’ surfers, bungee-jumpers and the like whose only contribution to mankind is usually an extremely bruised forehead and/or a sudden deficit of teeth.
OZ
OZ.
Life is dangerous, but I agree with Sipu. Skiing, horse-riding, mountain climbing, sailing and the like can all be dangerous, but I don’t consider those who do these things to be stupid; quite the reverse! They can be great fun, and a challenge.
Sipu.
I see that OZ has answered you, while I have been pondering over a reply. Thanks OZ. I’ll add my thoughts in support of yours.
I have great admiration for people who explored the unknown with no ‘back up’ for no other reason than to find what would happen or to learn what was out there.
The opportunity for such risk-taking enterprises today are very limited since the world, now, can provide safeguards against most contingencies.
I’ll freely admit that I am too frightened to jump off the edge of a cliff – especially when I perceive that it serves no ‘useful’ purpose to do so.
I maintain that it is sheer stupidity to jump off the edge of a cliff without the backup of a second harness, to set sail across an ocean, climb a mountain, or to do anything without the ‘backup’ of modern technology. What do such activities achieve beyond personal satisfaction or thrill seeking? Nothing.
Those who are simply trying to prove something to themselves or seeking thrills give the world nothing. Whereas the early experimenters and explorers gave the world knowledge.
Looking after a quadriplegic for decades is not exactly a bundle of laughs, particularly when the injury is self-inflicted for no better reason than thrill-seeking.
IMHO, of course.
Boadicea – There is one of those “reality” programme on the box here where they put a heap of ‘C’ list “celebrities” in a soi-disant ‘dangerous jungle-type place’ and then run some kind of competition. The last one apparently took place on one of the islands of the Vanuatu archipelago. I’ve been there myself many times on business – the natives aren’t cannibals (well at least not for the past 100 years, allegedly) and the local hotel is very comfortable. Ho hum!
Araminta – A tricky one. Bungee-jumping and suchlike is a waste of time IMHO, but at the other end of the scale there is the scally who thought it fun to climb a high tension pylon in order, allegedly, to steal copper cable. The bombeiros had to cut the power to a whole town before they could put the flames out and retrieve the corpse. Darwin 1 – Chav 0. I have a photograph somewhere if you’re interested.
Bearsy – One of the NSW’s private clients is a poor bloke who broke his neck when a rugby scrum collapsed on him when he was in his early twenties. He’s in his late forties now, tetraplegic and dependent 24/7 who blogs via a pointer on a headband. His wife married him after the accident.
OZ
The corollary of that is to ban rugby?
Sorry, OZ and Boadicea, I strongly disagree with both of you, but recognise that we will have to leave it at that. Call me stupid if you will.
Furry ‘nough, Sipu, we beg to differ. All the best to you and for the record this thick wolf would be the very last to call you stupid. 😀
OZ
I don’t think that anyone here is calling for a ban on any activity (are they?) but merely expressing an opinion that those who participate in thrill seeking adventure activities are perhaps ‘a booster short of a rocket’ (Scotty, Star Trek.)
As Ara points out in her #27, life is dangerous and not just the activities that she mentions, crossing the street, riding a bike, driving a car all can have calamitous consequences it is surely up to the individual to consider his or her options and decide.
I’m all for the individual’s freedom to choose.
I’ve bungeed…… I was VERY stupid! But very young (17)!
Many anthropological studies have shown that risk taking is for the young and our brains adapt and change quite significantly as we get older. Can’t see many people over 35 bungeeing unless trying to impress a member of the opposite sex!
I was wondering what Geronimo would shout when he launched himself into a bungee.
OZ
Your #23 Araminta. My daughter did all these things in New Zealand too, so it may well be for the reason your daughter gave. Since she went bungee-jumping, she has developed a fear of heights and hates travelling in observation lifts. Younger son also bungee-jumped on his honeymoon in NZ, when you would have thought he could have found other things to do. The photo of him hurtling earthwards is now his screen saver and my little granddaughter now says “Silly Daddy” when she sees it. Wonder who taught her that?
“MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”
Interesting Sheona.
My daughter was quite gung-ho about repeating the experience, but more so the parachuting rather than the bungee jumping. Since she is now a mother, she may well have given up the idea, but she still rides horses from time to time.
I think they thought it was a bit quiet in New Zealand because she travelled with two friends who were all with her at university in London, and they hit NZ straight after South East Asia.
I rather separate the man made from the natural.
Riding horses, climbing, swimming, dog sledding etc are all activities much nearer to nature and generally do not seem to generate that many accidents per incidence.
Leaping from aeroplanes using man made parachutes, ballooning in silly baskets, gliding in toy balsa wood planes, climbing smooth buildings on magnets and especially bungee jumping strikes me as putting your life in someone else’s hands.
Forget it, too many morons out there.
And as for leaping off a bridge in darkest Zambia with an obviously frayed cord, so much easier ways of killing yourself!
I rather think the whole thing is about addiction to adrenaline, of course if we still fought wars as of old with broadswords I think that the majority of them would not be tempted to do useless senseless things.
How many coming back from the Crusades would want to go bungee jumping? Not many I’ll warrant!
Cuprum – 😀
OZ