Anybody who bungee jumps must be aware that there is a possibility the cord might snap. I suppose the knowledge of this danger adds to the thrill. Every now and then we hear of somebody using a cord that is too long and, well, the results are predictable. Sometimes alcohol is involved. Sometimes it’s just ignorance or stupidity.
But most inhabitants of the civilized world have come to expect that companies that specialize in providing such thrills to their customers use due diligence and follow strict safety procedures. After all, they charge money for their services and their customers’ safety is in their hands.
No doubt Australian tourist Erin Langworthy expected as much from the African company, to whom she paid the equivalent of about $150. Yet all good things must end – and this holds true for bungee cords just like anything else. Unfortunately for her, the bungee cord reached the end of its warranty after she jumped and it snapped. Fortunately for her, she survived.
I am not an expert on bungee cords, or on bungee jumping, but I do know that when the stakes are high, one does not simply continue to use the same equipment over and over again until it fails. I do know that common sense, and decency, require careful inspection of equipment on a regular basis in such situations.
Here is some of her account of what happened:
“I actually brought my arms up over my face, to protect myself when I hit the water. I sort of remember it all, it was quite cold so it snapped me out of it,” Langworthy said on “Good Morning America.”
With her legs fastened together, Langworthy struggled to bring herself to safety while swimming amidst crocodiles.
“I tried to stay afloat, and your legs are quite heavy cause of the line. I was hearing the rapids. Luckily we had been rafting, so I remembered some of the safety tips,” she said.
Langworthy reportedly was pulled downstream and entangled by the bungee cord before she eventually swam to the Zimbabwe bank of the river where she was rescued.
“When I was first brought out of the water, they put me on my back and so all the water I had inhaled meant that I couldn’t breathe,” she told Australia’s Channel 9 News. So I made them roll me on to my side and that’s when I started coughing up water and blood.”
It is a fact that cords do sometimes snap. As a venerable sage once said, “shit happens”. But how can the rescue crew, which works by the river on a regular basis, not know how to save somebody from drowning? Either those Africans were too busy feasting their eyes on her white bosom or they were too ignorant to know how to get water out of her lungs.
If they ever do figure out how to use condoms in Africa, water safety and rescue might be next on the list of things for them to learn.
Blacks themselves are invariably cowards and scared shitless of bungee jumping and other thrill sports indulged in by whites. I dont blame them really as I, and most other whites for that matter, also dont dare do such stuff, but amongst blacks its almost unknown to want to risk ones life for no reward. Despite what Hollywood tries to make us believe, most blacks are pathetic cowards and yet awesome bullies when they have the power.
In one of the opening sequences of “Zulu” the black native levies desert the scene when they realise a huge army of Zulu warriors is approaching. Lt Bromhead (Michael Caine) exclaims “bloody cowardly blacks..!”. That was back in 1964 when historical truth was still (just about) being told, would never be allowed today.
I have no sympathy for her. You do crazy things and put your life in danger in an uncivilised country and you take what you get.
We have Aussie drug dealers facing death sentences in Indonesia whining the Aust govt can’t save them, and now a kidnapped man living in the Philippines whose family is whining the Aust govt refuses to pay $2 million ransom.
I’m starting to believe that there needs to be public education video campaigns on international flights and brochures handed out with passports and airline tickets and visas telling these stupid people that Western laws and customs and standards and quality are NOT GLOBAL and if they visit a non Western country then they should damn well make sure they learn the pitfalls and laws and understand the risks and consequences.
I travelled in my mid 20s and the only non Western country I visited was East Berlin for about 2 hours after the Wall came down, and Singapore which is more civilised than most places. I was aware that things could go very very wrong outside the Western world and I would be on my own and vulnerable. What is it breeding over confidence in today’s youngsters?