British father of two dies as he hits rock after base jump off 9,500ft Italian peak
A BRITISH father of two plummeted to his death after ‘base jumping’ off a cliff in Italy at the weekend.
Robert Haggarty, 47, threw himself off a 9,500ft peak in the Dolomites mountain range on Sunday, but he reportedly hit a rock 600ft into his descent and struggled to deploy his parachute. Onlookers quickly alerted the authorities as they watched the extreme sports enthusiast from Andover, Hampshire, fall.
Base jumping is the act of wingsuit-flying or parachuting from a fixed structure or cliff.
Mr Haggarty, originally from
Dumfries, Scotland, had travelled
all over the world on base
jumping trips – including to the
United States, Norway and
Switzerland.
Rescuers were lowered from a
helicopter on Sunday before
battling treacherous terrain
and bad weather to find Mr
Haggarty’s body.
Mr Haggarty’s wife Joanna was
said to be ‘utterly distraught’ by
his death. His family were too
upset to comment further.