British man dies after base jumping from 9,500ft Dolomites mountain

Base jumping has a fatality and injury rate 50 times higher than parachuting from an aircraft

A BRITISH base jumper has died in the Italian Dolomites after launching himself from a 9,500ft mountain.

The Briton was named by Italian police as Robert Haggarty, 47, from Andover, Hants. He reportedly deployed his parachute after jumping from a peak in the Monte Civetta range but hit a rock wall and was killed on impact.

The alarm was raised by hikers and climbers who witnessed the accident. Alpine rescue experts faced great diffi- culties in recovering his body because of the extreme steepness of the terrain.

It was the first base jumper death in the Dolomites this year. Last year, an orthopaedic surgeon from Austria died after jumping from the same mountain.

Base jumping – leaping with a parachute or wingsuit from a building, bridge or cliff – has a fatality and injury rate 50 times higher than parachuting from an aircraft. Base jumpers who wear wingsuits fly at speeds of up to 120mph before deploying a parachute to float to the ground.