«What Was Feared Occurred». Details of the Rope Jumper's Fall from a Tower Near Minsk

On Saturday, October 10, an accident occurred in the industrial zone in Sosny: a rope jumper crashed during a test jump from a height. The 40-year-old man is now in intensive care in a medically induced coma. Onliner.by writes about the chronology of events and eyewitness accounts.

Official information about the incident with the 40-year-old rope jumper in Sosny appeared three days later. According to the Investigative Committee, the incident occurred when a 36-year-old individual entrepreneur, who provides extreme jumping services, was preparing the site for clients.

«He was assisted by a 40-year-old acquaintance who decided to independently secure the safety equipment and perform a test jump,» the agency's statement said.

The site is located in the industrial zone of the village of Sosny, approximately 9 kilometers from the Minsk Ring Road (MKAD). A 104-meter high pipe from a former boiler house remained there and was rented out.

On the website of company N, which conducted jumps on the day of the incident, this object is called «the highest for rope jumping in Belarus.» Jumps can be made from three levels: 40, 70, and 100 meters. Judging by the description, the 70-meter level was the most popular. The 40 and 100-meter platforms were chosen less frequently. The latter was rarely used due to weather conditions: it was necessary to wait for the correct wind direction, and the suspension system had its own peculiarities.

Speaking of safety, the organizers reported that they had been conducting jumps since 2009 and «there had been no extraordinary incidents during this entire time, except for broken long fingernails when climbing the stairs.»

The website also mentions certified equipment and a duplicated safety system: two ropes, two carabiners, and at least two attachment points. According to the organizers, each element can withstand a load of no less than 2.2 tons.

Павялічыць

Age restrictions, according to the description, depend on the height. Jumps from 70 and 100 meters are allowed from the age of 16 — with experience and parental consent. This was confirmed by a phone call during the event. From a lower height, jumps can be made earlier, but provided that the participant's height is at least 130 centimeters and parents are present.

The list of medical contraindications includes 14 points, including heart, spine, and respiratory system diseases, such as bronchial asthma, as well as psychiatric illnesses in an acute stage.

Павялічыць

«Anyone can jump. No special skills are needed for the jump; experienced instructors will do everything for you,» states the website in the «Questions» section.

«I heard a thud — you know, with an echo, as if a sack of potatoes had been dropped from the ninth floor»

On the day of the tragedy, according to eyewitnesses, jumps from a height of 40 meters were being prepared. Around 2:00 PM, the first clients began arriving at the site. Among them was Valeria (name changed).

The girl came with friends and was going to jump from such a height for the first time.

According to her, she chose N out of two organizations simply because they had available spots for the desired date.

— About twenty people gathered near the pipe. Those who were going to jump were given equipment near the tent. The instructor, who was supposed to make a test jump, was standing at the top. At some point, I went to the car for money. I only had 70 rubles for the jump, but then I wanted to order an additional service — filming, which I hadn't thought about initially.

— And then, as I was returning, I heard a thud — you know, with an echo, as if a sack of potatoes had been dropped from the ninth floor. I was already quite close and saw how the guy [who was making the test jump] fell almost at the feet of the people standing in line. The bungee cord immediately lifted him back to our eye level. He was unconscious and not moving.

According to Valeria, other men — presumably the organizers — then came down from the tower and lowered the injured person to the ground. He soon regained consciousness.

— They immediately called an ambulance for him and tried to splint his leg. It seems that when he fell, he first touched the ground with his feet, and then he fell fully. Later we found his Instagram page. We also thought he looked much younger than his 40 years. That's how we learned his name was Semyon and that he had been working with this team for two years.

— What happened next?

— A commotion started. One of the instructors fainted, and some clients immediately began to leave. The most composed was the female organizer: she coordinated people and patiently explained to those who arrived later and did not know about the incident why the jumps were being canceled. Some were indignant — this was even before the ambulance arrived.

Павялічыць

According to the interviewee, helmets were given to all clients, but the instructors, including Semyon, were without them.

— I remember telling my friend: «You have to be so confident in yourself to jump without a helmet.» And just as we discussed it, he fell…

— Were any theories voiced as to why this happened?

— You see, everyone was busy with the equipment on the ground. We only noticed that the instructor [Semyon] was at the top, preparing for the jump. As it turned out later, no one filmed his jump. My friend was also going to film, but I walked away — and it's probably good she didn't get to. What exactly happened during the jump is unclear: he fell, hit the ground, and the rope pulled him back up. That is, the system worked, but apparently not completely. Acquaintances who are veterans of these adrenaline activities later told us never to get involved in such adventures [rope jumps] again.

— Why did you decide to jump anyway?

— In Spain, at an amusement park, I had already tried a similar free-fall attraction, including water slides. It feels like your heart drops into your heels, and for another fifteen minutes, you don't know where you are. It was just interesting to try something new…

«My friend was supposed to take the equipment after the instructor»

Anastasia also saw the moment Semyon fell. She came to the site with a friend, to whom she wanted to give a 40-meter jump as a gift.

— My friend was supposed to put on the equipment after the instructor [Semyon], who jumped first. First he jumped, then a couple, and then my friend. They tell us: «Look, now he's going to fly.» We look, and he doesn't bounce; he just falls down…

— What do you mean by bounce?

— We had previously watched recordings of similar jumps and saw that the person doesn't touch the ground but rather seems to hover and spring in the air. But he immediately flew down. Then there was a thud, and the ropes pulled him back up. I was very scared and cried: the man who fell wasn't moving, and I thought he was dead. We left immediately…

«Cerebral edema developed due to traumatic shock»

Semyon is currently in the intensive care unit of the Emergency Medical Hospital. Doctors have put him in a medically induced coma. The man has no parents, and his only close relative is an uncle. Journalists contacted him, and the relative briefly spoke about his nephew and his condition, but the next day called back and retracted his comments.

On Saturday, October 17, the situation was officially commented on by Ivan Bartashevich, an anesthesiologist-resuscitator and head of the intensive care unit at BSMD (Emergency Medical Hospital).

According to the medic, the 40-year-old patient was admitted to the clinic after falling from a 40-meter height, which is comparable to the tenth floor of a residential building. His condition is assessed as very severe.

«The patient fell while attached to a safety cable. The cable broke but helped to cushion the fall. The patient was admitted conscious, but due to traumatic shock and severe injuries, he developed cerebral edema. Our specialists diagnosed him with a severe spinal cord injury, complex fractures of the thoracic and lumbar spine,» Ivan Bartashevich told ONT channel.

«The reason is known to whoever rigged this system»

Formally, rope jumping in Belarus is not prohibited, but it operates in a gray area: there are no separate regulatory acts, licenses, or approved safety standards for it.

On condition of anonymity, journalists spoke with the owner of a similar extreme project and asked him about how this business is structured from the inside and what could have led to the fall from height.

— What exactly happened with those guys, I don't know, even though we work in the same field," the interviewee muses. "It's obvious that they've been doing this for a long time and knew basic safety rules. Most likely, the human factor was at play. Everyone buys equipment from the same specialized stores. There are no regulations on how to do all this correctly. This is such an underground activity that is not recognized in our country and is not controlled or regulated in any way. Essentially, everyone disguises such activities as best they can: some call it elements of a rope park, others — mountaineering. But the risk of injury here, as in other sports, exists. And tragedies also happen.

Павялічыць

— There's an opinion that a weight should be used for a test jump, not a live person. Is that true?

— Jumps happen constantly at this site. The ropes are already measured for the desired height, attachment points are checked, and most likely, the same kit is used. There's no practical need to drop a weight again every time: the basic system has already been tested and is simply assembled according to an established scheme. In amusement parks, they don't ride sandbags before every ride either: the attraction passed inspection at the beginning of the season, received permission, and operates.

According to the expert, a weight is definitely dropped under other circumstances: if the object is new, the height is unusual, or instructors have installed an experimental safety system. Only then is a weight dropped first, to see how the system behaves under load, and only then do they jump themselves. If the point is old, you simply reassemble the system, like a LEGO constructor, and your task is to ensure that all knots are tied correctly.

— And does the instructor always jump first?

— Yes. It's logical to test your own assembly on yourself.

— Do you have any hypotheses about what might have happened?

— I understand it this way: the instructor assembled the system and made a test jump to show that everything was properly adjusted. But why he slammed into the ground — there are many versions. And it's difficult to say what the mistake was, as we didn't see that jump. What can I say... End of the season, people have been jumping there for two years, making jumps several times a week. The reason is not that a weight wasn't dropped. It lies elsewhere. And whoever rigged the system knows it.

Павялічыць

— Explain what that is?

— A rope jump is the gradual dissipation of kinetic energy. In a parachute jump, the canopy slows a person down, but here it's the tension of the ropes. This entire structure of attachments and transitions is called a base, or station. Braking systems vary: for example, some work on the principle of a pendulum. If someone has devised a new scheme, then it's logical to first drop a weight and check how everything works. But if the system has been assembled for a long time and everything in it is verified, then there's no point in dropping a weight.

Fatal Incident at the Same Location

Nine years ago, on June 19, 2017, a 27-year-old resident of Salihorsk was fatally injured at the same industrial site in Sosny. The young man was jumping for the first time — from a height of 70 meters, with a certificate he received as a birthday gift.

A criminal case was opened against the individual entrepreneur who organized paid extreme jumps, under Part 1 of Article 144 of the Criminal Code («Causing death by negligence»).

According to the investigation, the organizer did not secure the rope structure at the main support points and attachment areas, and completely ignored safety control. At the moment of the jump, the system simply failed and did not hold the person. The verdict was issued in January 2018. The organizer was given the maximum penalty under this article — 3 years of imprisonment in a general regime penal colony.

After that tragedy, investigators from the capital's department of the Investigative Committee sent an official submission to the State Industrial Supervision of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The document proposed regulating the conduct of rope jumps from height throughout the country, as well as establishing control over this area of activity. However, uniform rules for rope jumping in Belarus still do not exist.

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