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A haunting video captured the tragic moment when a skydiving instructor met an untimely end, tumbling helplessly off the edge of a cliff after his parachute failed.

Jose de Alencar Lima Junior, a 49-year-old Army veteran who served as a paratrooper in the Brazilian Army’s Parachute Infantry Brigade, attempted to speed fly off a cliff in Sao Conrado, Brazil, on Sunday morning. However, as he ran off the edge, his parachute barely opened—and he plummeted to his death.

A group of horrified witnesses looked on as Lima plunged an agonizing 250 metres, crashing onto jagged rocks in a dense, unforgiving forest below. One onlooker recalled that it appeared he had stumbled into a hole before his fateful fall, according to the New York Post.

The video is nothing short of chilling. It’s painfully clear that Lima had no inkling of the malfunctioning parachute before he leapt.

By the time he realised, it was already far too late.

 

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Lima’s sister-in-law, who requested to remain anonymous, said his family has “no idea what could have happened.”

“But he was a professional skydiver for 20 years. He was experienced,” she said. “What happened was an accident.”

Though undeniably an accident, Lima’s leap was far from ordinary. According to Clube Sao Conrado de Voo Livre (CSCLV), he did not jump from an official ramp. Instead, he plunged off a perilous, off-the-beaten-path spot—one deemed treacherous by experts.

“The pilot did not use the ramp to take off. The spot he chose for takeoff is bad and even prohibited,” the CSCLV said. “The CSCLV is not responsible for the incident. With that clarification, may the pilot rest in peace.”

Regardless of whether Lima followed all the proper precautions, his death is a devastating tragedy.

[source:vice]