Appears in Newsflare picks
03:25

British base jumper, 33, dies when parachute fails on tower in Thailand

Content Partner Cover Image
Content Partner Profile Image
Uploaded by a Newsflare content partner

Buy video

A British base jumper plunged to his death from a tower block in Thailand when his parachute failed to open.

Nathy Odinson, 33, from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, illegally climbed to the top of the 29 floor apartment building in the coastal resort of Pattaya on Saturday night.

Footage shows the tattooed daredevil counting down 'three, two, one, see ya' before leaping into the night sky - only to go into a deadly tailspin with the small pilot chute flailing through the air.

Nathy can be heard landing in a tree before hitting the ground with a sickening thud. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Traumatised security guard Kanet Chansong, 33, said: 'I heard the sound of the tree and I though it was a fallen branch hitting the ground.

'A woman screamed so I walked over and realised it was person. They were dead. I saw that they had jumped from the building.'

In the video, Nathy asks the person recording him from the other side of a security wall if his helmet camera has the red light flashing to indicate it is recording. When he realises it was not recording, Nathy removes his helmet and presses the button before briefly checking his parachute.

His friend, a Thai local, exclaims 'oh f***' when he hears Nathy hit the ground. The emergency services were called shortly after.

Staff at the Lumpini Ville Naklua condo checked CCTV and saw that Nathy and a friend had parked outside then waited for a time when it was quiet before sneaking into the building.

They then illegally trespassed onto the roof of the building, with Nathy clambering over a small concrete wall on the roof of the building into order to reach the edge.

The security guard said that Nathy had jumped from the building several times before, which posed a risk for pedestrians walking below.

He added: 'They were making video content for social media. They had done this before and they knew it was not allowed.'

Police and paramedics arrived at the scene shortly after 7:30pm local time. However, Nathy could not be saved.

Police Lieutenant Kamolporn Nadee, Deputy Inspector of Investigations at the Bang Lamung district police station, said there were no initial signs that Nathy had been attacked.

The policeman said: 'The parachute that the deceased used to jump malfunctioned and was not centered as expected. He was in a terrible state when we arrived.

'The friend who recorded the video of him jumping was questioned and the video was examined as evidence.

'Forensics officers are investigating the case further. They are examining the parachute.'

Nathy had performed sky dives and base jumps around the world. He ran a 'sky photography' company and took customers on private sky dives.

Police have informed the British Embassy in Bangkok, which is contacting Nathy's relatives in the United Kingdom.

Categories

Tags

From the blog

Stories not Stock: 3 Reasons Why You Should Use UGC Instead of Stock Video

Video content is an essential part of a brand’s marketing strategy, and while stock footage has been a reliable go-to in the past, forward-thinking companies are looking to user-generated content for their video needs.

View post
Content Partner Cover Image
Content Partner Profile Image
Uploaded by a Newsflare content partner

Buy video