Tuesday, June 27, 2017

PISS POOR ENGLISH LED TO DEADLY BUNGLED BUNGEE JUMP

Girl, 17, died when she bungee jumped off a bridge in Spain without being tied to the ledge after an instructor with 'very bad English' said 'no jump' and she thought he said 'now jump'

By Gareth Davies

Daily Mail
June 26, 2017

A 17-year-old girl who died when she bungee jumped off a bridge in Spain without being tied to the ledge plunged to her death in a mix-up over an instructor's English.

Vera Mol had a rope attached to her, but it wasn't tied to anything else when she took part in the popular adrenaline-fuelled activity on the bridge of Cabezon de la Sal in Cantabria back in 2015.

Her instructor told her, 'no jump', but his pronunciation was so bad the teenager thought he had said 'now jump' so she leapt to her untimely death.

The instructor, who has not been named, has appeared in court accused of causing the Dutch girl's death.

Judges in the court of Cantabria, northern Spain, say the instructor should have checked for ID to make sure Vera was 18 years old, adding that his English was 'macarronico', which translates to 'very bad'.

The court heard how tragic Vera Mol died after the misunderstanding during the jumping process, which could have been avoided had the instructor used the phrase 'don't jump' as opposed to 'no jump' as was reportedly the correct protocol.

It is also alleged the bridge was not supposed to be used for bungee jumping under Spanish regulations.

Flowtrack, who run the bungee jumping company which employed the man, claim it was an accident, but Martijn Klom from the company admitted the girl's death was caused by a misunderstanding when she was receiving instructions for the jump.

He confirmed the girl jumped when she was tied by the rope, but without being secured to the bridge.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bungee Jumping, Bull Riding and Parachuting are not activities I participate in. Hell, I won't even ride a full elevator. Sooner or later gravity is going to get you.

bob walsh said...

Whoops.