Woman’s joke before bungee jump turns chillingly prophetic

What started as a playful joke quickly turned into a nightmare for one woman, whose near-death experience during a bungee jump became a terrifying brush with fate.

It goes to show that anything can happen, especially when you perhaps are not expecting it.

What started as a playful joke quickly turned into a nightmare for one woman, whose near-death experience during a bungee jump became a terrifying brush with fate.

It goes to show that anything can happen, especially when you perhaps are not expecting it.

Before the jump, Erin jokingly sent her mum a postcard, teasing: “I’m doing a bungee jump tomorrow, so I’ll say goodbye… only joking!” It was meant to be light-hearted, but her words would soon take on a haunting significance.

Erin was the 105th person to jump that day, and she admitted she felt a few nerves, but never imagined anything could go wrong. As is customary for the jump, her leap was captured on camera. The footage shows her arms outstretched, falling gracefully — until, in a split second, the cord snaps.

Plummeting into the Zambezi, notorious for its strong currents and crocodile population, Erin hit the water hard, and the broken cord still bound her feet together.

“It felt amazing at first,” Erin later said, per The Guardian. “Then I felt a jolt across my chest, like I slowed down for a second… and suddenly I hit the water. That’s when I realised something had gone seriously wrong.”

Knocked unconscious for a moment by the impact, Erin came to underwater, her lungs burning, disoriented and struggling to work out which way was up. “As I went deeper, the water got colder; I think that snapped me out of it,” she recalled.

To make matters worse, the bungee cord tangled in rocks and debris as she was swept through the rapids. With immense effort, she managed to dive under and free it more than once. Despite severe bruising and internal trauma, she swam through the fast-flowing river and made it to the Zimbabwean side, where a staff member helped her to safety.

“I’d seen crocodiles that morning,” she later said, “but I couldn’t even think about that. I was coughing up blood and struggling to breathe. My lungs were on fire.”

She credits her instinctive outstretched arms during the fall for saving her from a head-first impact and likely unconsciousness.

Erin was taken to a nearby hospital in Victoria Falls where she was put on a ventilator, underwent scans and was treated for partially collapsed lungs and potential infections from the dirty river water. “I had ingested a lot of water, so they gave me strong antibiotics,” she said of her stay in the hospital. “But miraculously, there were no broken bones.”

Despite the trauma, Erin was philosophical about the incident. “The bungee team were incredibly apologetic. I think it’s a miracle I survived.”

In the wake of the accident, Zambia’s then-tourism minister Given Lubinda addressed public fears, saying the bungee jump had a strong safety record with over 50,000 jumpers a year and just one known incident, according to The Lusaka Tmes.

In fact, Lubinda even offered to jump again, alongside Erin, to prove the safety of the operation. “It’s my responsibility to take the risk,” he said. “And to show the world that Zambia is still a destination worth visiting and bungee jumping in.”

As for Erin? Her mum insists she’ll never jump again. Erin, on the other hand, isn’t so sure.

Related Posts

Zohran Mamdani’s 5-word reply to Trump after calling him a ‘communist lunatic’

Zohran Mamdani isn’t backing down — not even when the threat comes from the Oval Office. After Donald Trump publicly floated the idea of deporting him, the…

How the Secret Service will treat Barron Trump’s girlfriend

Barron Trump has been rumored to have been involved in his first romantic relationship. Rumors suggest he has a girlfriend, which, to the best of public knowledge,…

Carer fulfills dying woman’s last wish with song

We all get old and die eventually. I’m not especially scared of dying, I think it’s something beautiful and natural. On the other hand, I’m terrified of…

Melania Trump ‘was not qualified’ for US visa, congresswoman claims

Melania Trump came to the US as a young, aspiring model. Just like everyone else, she had to apply for a visa, which she received in 2001,…

Trump drops surprising and sarcastic comment on Alligator Alcatraz

Florida’s infamous new migrant detention center — nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz” — has become a hot topic nationwide after President Donald Trump visited the controversial facility this week….

“Is that a curtain?”: Internet roasts ‘worst’ outfits at Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s wedding

When the ultra-rich come together to celebrate, the fashion stakes are sky-high — and sometimes, delightfully unexpected. As Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez began their lavish wedding…