SYDNEY, Jan 9, 2012 (AFP) - An Australian woman whose bungee jumping cord snapped, plunging her head-first into raging crocodile-infested waters in Africa's Zambezi River, on Monday described her "miracle" survival.
Erin Langworthy, 22, was on holiday on New Year's Eve when she took on the 111-metre (364-foot) bungee jump from the Victoria Falls bridge above the river, which borders Zambia and Zimbabwe.
This captured photo shows Erin Langworthy, 22, bungee jumping from the Victoria Falls bridge above Zambezi River in Zimbabwe. (Courtesy of Channel Nine, Australia)
But it all went horribly wrong when the cord snapped about halfway into the jump. The terrifying moment was caught on video and Langworthy is seen hitting the water with her feet still tied before being swept towards rapids.
"It went black straight away and I felt like I'd been slapped all over," she told Australia's Channel Nine in an interview recounting the moment of impact.
"As I went deeper down, the water got colder and it must have snapped me out of it."
Langworthy, from Perth, said she had been white water rafting the previous day and remembered some of the safety tips to get through the looming rapids.
"The water was going quite quickly and then I started to hear the roaring," she said.
"It's like being in waves, you get sucked under and then you pop up so it's very disorienting, I didn't know which was up or down."
She managed to swim to the Zimbabwe side of the river, where she hauled herself out.
"It was quite scary because a couple of times the rope actually got caught on some rocks or debris," she said.
"I actually had to swim down and yank the bungee cord out of whatever it was caught on to make it to the surface."
Langworthy suffered a fractured collar bone as well as massive bruising in the accident and was taken to South Africa for treatment.
"Yes, I think it's definitely a miracle that I survived," she told the broadcaster.
The Lusaka Times quoted Zambian Tourism Minister Given Lubinda as assuring tourists the bungee jumping equipment was safe, despite the incident.
"The bungee has proven to be a very viable operation considering that more than 50,000 tourists jump on it every year," he said.
"It has been in operation for 10 years. This is the first time I am hearing of an incident. The probability of an incident is one in 500,000 jumps."
<한글기사>
女 111m 번지점프후 악어떼 위로 떨어져
아프리카 짐바브웨에서 111미터 짜리 번지점프를 시도하던 20대 여성의 로프가 끊어져 추락하는 사건이 발생했다.
AFP등 외신들에 따르면 지난 8일(현지시간) 이 여성이 111미터 높이에서 뛰어내렸지만 로프가 끊어졌고 악어가 우글거리는 강물로 떨어졌다. 하지만 이 여성은 '구사일생'으로 살아남았다고.
호주 여성인 에린 랭워시는 크리스마스 휴가차 짐바브웨를 찾았으며 번지점프를 하기 위해 잠비아와 짐바브웨 경계가 흐르는 잠베지강 빅포리아 폭포를 방문중이었다.
그는 안전하리라 굳게 믿고 뛰어내렸지만 물에 거의 닿기 직전 줄이 끊어졌다.
하지만 그는 추락후에도 다행히도 의식을 잃지 않았고 두발이 로프에 묶인상태에서도 살기위해 필사적으로 헤엄쳤다.
랭워시는 호주방송과의 인터뷰에서 자신이 살아남은 것은 기적이며 떨어지는 순간 온몸을 얻어맞은 것 같은 느낌이었다고 전했다.
그는 사고직후 치료를 위해 남아공으로 옮겨졌고 골절상과 타박상 진단을 받았다.
사고가 발생한 빅토리아 폭포 번지점프대는 매년 5만명이 찾는 유명레저시설로 자연구조물에 세워진 번지점프 가운데 세계에서 3번째로 높다.
