A woman who slipped out of a harness while bungee jumping in Nanaimo on the weekend walked away mostly unscathed.
The woman fell out of a harness attached around her ankles after reaching the lowest point of the jump, plunging about 10 feet into the river below, said Tom Benson, chief experience officer of WildPlay.
She suffered bruising on her ankle, but was in “incredibly good spirits,” when the WildPlay team retrieved her from the water.
While the woman felt fine, WildPlay staff insisted the woman get checked out by medical professionals, he said.
B.C. Emergency Health Services confirmed it received a call at 2:31 p.m. and paramedics treated one patient who was taken to hospital in stable condition.
Ron Gueulette, fire chief of Cranberry Fire Department, also responded to the call.
“She was a little shaken up going into the river, but other than that, she was OK,” he said.
It’s not clear how the woman fell out of the harness, which has two points of attachment: a compression system that wraps around both legs just above the ankles and a backup sling that wraps around one leg, Benson said.
“It’s an anomaly that in this one instance it didn’t work,” he said.
First-time jumpers use the ankle harness, while some more advanced jump options offered at WildPlay use a harness that goes around the torso, Benson said.
WildPlay, which also has locations in Greater Victoria, Maple Ridge, Niagara Falls, Ont., and two in New York state, has been operating bungee jumps for 30 years and has provided more than 400,000 jumps.
There has never been a previous incident in which someone fell during a bungee jump, he said.
Benson said the company believes it knows how to ensure the system does not fail again in the future, but he was not able to share the information publicly until it is confirmed.
He expects the bungee jump to be back in operation in about five to 10 days.
“We won’t do anything unless it’s as proven as it can be and folks will have to make their own decisions around that, which has always been the case with bungee jumping, Benson said.
