The jumper, whose arm and leg were broken, was hanging from a mountain after his parachute failed to open and got snagged on a rock.
A badly injured parachute jumper was rescued from a mountain in Canada after dangling for hours from an outcropping of rock.
First responders in Alberta were summoned to Mount Rundle in the Canadian Rockies after a BASE jumper slammed into the mountainside when his chute failed to open, authorities said. The twisted parachute became snagged on a rock, leaving the man "hanging by a thread," a rescuer said.
“He was just hanging from a thread, literally. He was there for 3½ hours without falling, but we were certainly worried he might,” said Jeremy Mackenzie, a public safety specialist with Kananaskis Country, the Calgary Herald reported.
The unidentified man, believed to be in his 40s, "cartwheeled" into the mountain face when his chute didn't open, leaving him dangling more than 600 feet above the ground, Mackenzie said. The jumper suffered a fractured arm and leg from the impact.
Nonetheless, he was able to signal rescuers.
“He was in and out of consciousness but able to yell to his friend up on top of the mountain and wave his arms at us," Mackenzie said.
BASE jumping is an extreme sport that entails parachuting from a place on the ground instead of the sky. Its acronym means buildings, antennae, spans (bridges), and earth.
A rescuer was able to reach the man by rappelling down the mountain and strapping him to a flight harness. The injured jumper was removed by helicopter and transported to a hospital.
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