A son watched in horror as his mother plunged 290 feet to her death while trying to snap a selfie after bungee jumping off an abandoned boiler tower in Pavlovsk, near St. Petersburg, Russia.
According to the Daily Mail, Elizaveta “Liza” Gushchina was celebrating her 45th birthday and wanted to mark the occasion with an awe-inspiring bungee.
She did just that, and had completed the jump successfully, having been heard “screaming with joy” as she was seen swinging from an “elastic rope” hovering off the ground.
When she was done, though, she decided to climb back up the tower to snap a selfie for a keepsake. She did so without attaching any safety ropes, tragically slipping and falling to her death.
“She secured herself to a rope used for rope jumping, but did not set the required safe length. Then, approaching the edge, the woman slipped on a wet board, fell from a height, and died,” a source told Russian outlet REN TV.
Making matters even more heartbreaking, Liza’s 23-year-old son Nikita, who had brought his mom the jump as a gift for her birthday, witnessed the harrowing event.
“In tragic circumstances, experienced jumper and mother-of-two Liza has passed away,” a spokesperson from 23block – the rope jumping company operating the facility – said in a statement.
“Elizaveta Gushchina, along with her son Nikita, was a member of our sports team,” they added.
“Now the whole team is mourning her loss, this is a very big tragedy for us.”
Publicity material for the extreme sports facility said it was: “For people who cannot imagine their life without adrenaline, rope jumping, flights, active recreation, freefall”.
According to The Sun, the Russian state prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into Liza’s death.
“They will ascertain whether the organisers of the attraction complied with the law when providing services,” a spokesperson from the office explained.
Rest in peace.
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