A British BASE jumper, Nathy Odinson, fell 29 stories to his death in Thailand after his parachute failed to open in time, according to multiple reports.
Nathy Odinson, 33, was found dead near a condominium in the beach resort of Pattaya at around 7:30 pm local time on Saturday, Jan. 27, according to local news outlet Khaosod.
One of Odinson’s friends, identified by Khaosod as Mr Boy, told police he had earlier helped Odinson access the rooftop so that he could film a new jump for his social media channels.
Footage shows Odinson checking his helmet camera, then counting “three, two, one, see ya,” just before he leapt from the building.
Boy told Khaosod that he spotted Odinson’s parachute string was snagged after he jumped.
Local eyewitnesses say they heard a sickening thud as Odinson hit a tree, and then the ground.
Police say they found Odinson with his parachute unopened next to his body, the BBC reported.
An employee of the condominium told Khaosod that Odinson had done the jump from the building “many times before,” seemingly to create video content.
Odinson’s brother Ed Harrison, 39, told The Sun that the harrowing video showed how the small pilot chute got caught in his harness.
He said simple “user error” led to the tragedy.
“Looking at that video, any skydiver would immediately tell you what is wrong,” Harrison told the outlet.
“As he is standing, he is holding a white mini parachute called a pilot chute that has a cord going to the main chute, which is the bridle,” he said. “You throw the pilot chute into the relative wind flow and that deploys the main chute in his bag on the back.
“What you can clearly see is that the bridle is routed through his harness so there is no chance it could have opened the main chute,” Harrison told The Sun.
“It was a simple mistake he had made without realizing. He looks hurried which is a bad thing, perhaps worried someone might have stopped the jump,” he said.
“It’s a really simple thing and you can see he has tried to rectify the bridle but he hasn’t looked and no one else has done a check for him. Base jumping is dangerous because you don’t have a second chance,” the brother said.
“The equipment was checked after he died by a professional rigger and it was in good working condition. There was no problem with his kit,” he added.
Harrison said his brother had more than 500 jumps under his belt from all over the world.
“He had jumped in America, Spain, New Zealand, Thailand and the Philippines and had made friends in all of those places,” he said.
“He was fun-loving and joyful and was great with kids. He was a hero to my three children. They spoke to him frequently as I video-called him every other day. They still can’t believe this is real,” Harrison said.
