Base jumper’s 600f t death plunge after toes clipped rocky ledge
Wife’s anguish at film of Dolomites tragedy
AN experienced Scots base jumper died after spinning into an ‘uncontrollable descent’ down the side of a 8,500ft mountain.
Rob Haggarty was wearing a wingsuit when he launched himself from a cliff face in the Italian Dolomites.
But he failed to push off hard enough and his toes clipped a ledge – sending him crashing into the mountainside and falling 600ft to his death, an inquest heard yesterday.
His distraught wife, Joanna, left the room as drone footage of the tragedy during a base jumping holiday on June 24 last year was played in court.
Friends of Mr Haggarty, who had completed 500 jumps, said he was ‘very, very conservative’ and ‘stayed safe’.
Base jumpers are capable of reaching 120mph in their wingsuits before they deploy a parachute to land.
The extreme sport – which involves jumping from a fixed structure or cliff – is regarded as one of the riskiest in the world.
Figures show that it has a fatality rate around 50 times higher than parachuting from an aircraft.
An inquest at Winchester Coro- ner’s Court heard the 47-year-old was killed minutes after singing Happy Birthday to his ‘best friend in the community’ at the top of the Castelletto Della Busazza in north-east Italy.
The court in Hampshire was told how engineer Mr Haggarty, originally from Dumfries, was jumping from a cliff face reserved for experts due to its sloping drop.
His friend, Dr Angelo Grubisic, who lectures in astronautics at the University of Southampton, said Mr Haggarty failed to push himself far enough out and his toes clipped a ledge more than 40ft below.
From this point, Dr Grubisic said Mr Haggarty was in a ‘very, very bad situation’ as he was sent crashing into the mountain.
Mr Haggarty’s parachute was deployed automatically and other jumpers described hearing a ‘thud’ as he smashed into the mountain several times before coming to a stop on a ledge.
He suffered injuries including a fractured skull and haemorrhaging, fractured ribs and a collapsed lung.
Mr Haggarty, who lived in Andover, Hampshire, had jumped from the same spot twice the year before and had completed a jump earlier that morning, Dr Grubisic told the hearing.
He said: ‘He was very calm. It was my birthday and he had just sung Happy Birthday to me minutes prior to the jump.
‘He was in good health and in a good state of mind.’
Dr Grubisic added: ‘Rob always jumped alone and he was always a very, very conservative jumper, always taking great care and staying safe, doing the conservative jumps, which makes it all the more surprising he made the mistake.
‘When I jumped, my friend Greg told me I needed to push hard. I just wish I told Rob that.
‘On the ground there was some chatter that there had been an incident. Another jumper came down and said, “I’m sorry, it’s Rob”. At that point I was distraught.’
The inquest also heard rescuers took a long time to recover his body as a result of the difficult climb to retrieve it.
Fellow jumper Andreas Podlipnik, from Salzburg, Austria, said: ‘A second after Rob’s jump I heard two thuds and saw the canopy come up and it looked like it was turning back towards the mountain.’
Pathologist Dr Adnan Al-Badri described Mr Haggarty’s injuries as ‘unsurvivable’.
Coroner Simon Burge recorded a verdict of misadventure.
He said: ‘If there was ever a tragedy then this is it.
‘He was not deliberately reckless and had reputation for being very thorough, meticulous and well prepared.
‘He didn’t propel himself far enough and struck his leg with a glancing blow. That caused a forward rotation, which is an extremely dangerous situation to be in and he was sent into an uncontrollable descent.
‘I hope it brings the family some comfort that he was knocked out straightaway… he would not have known pain.
‘He died doing what he loved and I suspect if asked he would have said he wanted to die doing what he loved – the great shame is just that it was far too soon.’
‘He didn’t propel himself far enough’