Bungee jumper survives deadly 111-meter plunge

by Steven Mostyn - Jan 9 2012, 09:52

Continuing today’s theme of things dropping to Earth, an adrenaline-loving tourist from Perth, Australia, has survived a horrific fall after the bungee cord she was attached to snapped during an 111-meter plunge.

Lucky to emerge with only a smattering of cuts and some severe bruising, 22-year-old Erin Langworthy thought her time was up when the cord broke around 25 meters above the raging Zambezi River during a trip to Zimbabwe.

Although she smacked back-first into the river and lost consciousness, the icy water quickly brought Erin round and she struggled through the pain—her legs still bound—to untangle the trailing bungee cord as it snagged on bedrock and threatened to pull her below the surface.

“I landed with my legs tied and then had to swim to the Zimbabwe side [of the river] through the rapids,” she explained in a Channel 9 News report.

“I actually had to swim down and yank the bungee cord out of whatever it was caught into,” she added. “I think it’s a miracle that I survived.”

With deadly rapids approaching, and the prospect of crocodile attacks also looming, the dazed jumper somehow managed to crawl out of the river onto a rocky outcrop, where she waited for rescue.

She was later dispatched to a hospital in South Africa, where she spent a week recovering from her injuries and the ordeal.

As for the bungee company in question, which operates off the Victoria Falls bridge, it insists its services are safe and has said the malfunctioning equipment used during Erin’s jump has been replaced.

It remains to be seen whether the battered Aussie tourist launches a lawsuit against the company.

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