Australian base-jumper crashes into the side of a building in Malaysia

The strings of his parachute had got entangled at the 13th floor of the building, which kept him from falling. PHOTO: THE STAR ONLINE/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

SIBU (THE STAR ONLINE/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - An Australian base-jumper crashed into the glass panel of Wisma Sanyan during a trial jump, but suffered only minor injuries.

The incident caused anxiety among other jumpers of the Sibu International Base Jump as well as members of the public.

The jumper, identified only as Gary, 32, had leapt from the top floor of Wisma Sanyan at 8am on Thursday (Sept 21), 126m above the area of impact.

But he crashed, breaking the glass panel. The upper part of his body went through, leaving his lower body dangling outside, which caused alarm among onlookers.

He was, however, fortunate that the strings of his parachute had got entangled at the 13th floor of the building, which kept him from falling.

Sibu International BASE Jump event director Abdul Aziz Ahmad said that the incident was not due to a technical glitch as all jumpers' equipment had safety features.

He added that Gary, who has 420 jumps in Malaysia under his belt, suffered light injuries on his legs and elbows.

A total of 84 jumpers, four of them from Malaysia, are taking part in the 9th Sibu International BASE Jump from Friday until Sunday.

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