Parachute Failure Kills German Base Jumper In Portugal

A German base jumper plunged to his death after his parachute failed to deploy when he dove off a cliff in Nazaré, a fishing town in Portugal.

The horrific moment when the 50-year-old unnamed man was crushed as he hit the rocks at the back of Praia do Norte, a sandy beach in Nazaré on Monday, around 12 p.m. local time (7 a.m. EST), was caught on video.

The video showed two base jumpers diving off a cliff. While the jumper on the left, dressed in yellow, managed to open his parachute in time, flying away inches from the ground, the second jumper, dressed in blue, was not so lucky. The jumper on the right was seen hit the rocks hard, after which his parachute opened. The 18-second clip of the incident, uploaded by YouTube channel called Star News, blurred the point when the second jumper hit the rocks.

A third jumper, dressed in purple was seen standing at the edge of the cliff and witnessing the incident. There was also a second witness, who was recording the incident. While the third jumper was heard repeatedly yelling, “No, no” and then shouting “Are you okay?” to the first jumper. Another indistinct woman’s voice was heard saying, “Oh my God.”

Emergency services responded to the spot where the incident happened, within an hour, but could not save the German man, He was pronounced dead at the scene. The second jumper, who dove off the cliff was confirmed to be a Portuguese friend of the victim, Maritime Police chief Paulo Agostinho said, Mirror Online reported.

Agostinho added the German jumper had fell 310 feet at little less than 100 mph speed. The victim’s cause of death will be determined after an autopsy in Leiria, Portugal. Meanwhile, the victims were given psychiatric assistance after the traumatic experience.

In 2013, a 29-year-old Swedish man died in a similar manner, jumping from the same cliff as the German base jumper. Nazaré is famous for its picturesque cliffs, attracting base jumping enthusiasts from all over the world, who normally record their daring feats and post them on social media.

Apart from that, the Praia do Norte beach is well-known for its massive waves, making it an ideal surfing destination. Brazilian surfer Rodrigo Koxa broke surfer Garrett McNamara’s record of largest wave surfed last year in November, when he successfully tackled an 80-foot wave. McNamara previous record was for surfing 78-feet wave in November 2011.