Bungee jumping can be the thrill of a lifetime, but it can also go very wrong.
Australian traveler Erin Langworthy learned that the hard way during a trip to Zambia.
Langworthy decided to bungee jump from a bridge above the Zambezi River. The river is famous for strong currents and a large crocodile population.
Her jump began like any ordinary thrill-seeker experience. But halfway down, her bungee cord snapped and sent her free-falling 360 feet.
The 2012 footage online shows the moment she plunged into the rushing waters below. She fought to stay alive as the powerful current dragged her downstream.
The day before the jump, she sent a joking postcard to her mum.
It read: “I’m doing a bungee jump tomorrow, so I’ll say goodbye… only joking!”
It is now kept as a family reminder of how close she came to death. Her mother has sworn never to try anything similar.
Surviving Against All Odds
As panic set in, Langworthy tried swimming with her feet tied together.
The rope snagged on rocks, and she freed herself while still fighting the current.
A staff member eventually managed to pull her from the river. She was rushed to a hospital in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe hours later.
Doctors placed her on a ventilator and pumped her with antibiotics. She had partially collapsed lungs and bruising all over her body.
Miraculously, scans showed she had no broken bones at all.
She told Cover-More: “I was black and blue, my lungs were full of blood and water.”
Speaking to The Guardian, she said: “I felt exhausted and struggled to process what happened.”
She Cheated Death Twice
The accident happened at 5:30 p.m., but she reached hospital at 11 p.m.
Doctors feared infection from the dirty river water she swallowed.
Despite everything, Langworthy survived the fall and the crocodile-filled waters.
The bungee company visited her in hospital and apologized. They reportedly couldn’t believe she was still alive.
Experts say surviving a snapped bungee cord is extremely unlikely. The fatal danger usually comes from hitting the ground at full force.
Bungee jumping as a sport has a very low fatality rate overall. Only around one death occurs in every 500,000 jumps.
But those numbers don’t reflect cord failures specifically, which are far deadlier.
Strict safety checks normally keep injuries very rare.
Langworthy’s survival remains one of the sport’s most shocking close calls.
Featured image Credit: Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Travel
