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Topics: World News, UK News, Health
Emily Brown
A base jumper from the UK has died after a 'simple' mistake left his parachute unable to open.
Nathy Odinson, from Cambridgeshire in Britain, died on Saturday (27 January) after attempting a base jumping stunt in the coastal resort of Pattaya in Thailand.
The 33-year-old had previously challenged himself to thousands of skydives and base jumps across the globe, and worked as both a skydiver, taking customers on tandem jumps, as well as an aerial videographer.
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Odinson is said to have illegally climbed up a 29-storey building to perform his latest stunt on Saturday, and was filmed by a friend as he counted down to the moment he leapt off the building.
"Three, two, one, see ya," Odinson said in the footage.
Tragically, not even his considerable experience was able to save Odinson when his parachute failed to deploy and he landed in a tree below the building, before falling to the ground.
In the wake of his death, Odinson's brother, Ed Harrison, realized there was 'no chance' Odinson's parachute would have been able to open during the jump.
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Harrison made the claim after watching the footage of Odinson at the top of the building.
Speaking to The Sun, Harrison explained: "Looking at that video, any skydiver would immediately tell you what is wrong.
"As he is standing he is holding a white mini parachute called a pilot chute that has a cord going to the main chute which is the bridle.
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"You throw the pilot chute into the relative wind flow and that deploys the main chute in his bag on the back."
However, Harrison pointed out that footage of Odinson shows the bridle is routed through his harness, meaning there was 'no chance it could have opened the main chute'.
"It was a simple mistake he had made without realizing," the grieving brother said.
"He looks hurried which is a bad thing, perhaps worried someone might have stopped the jump."
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Harrison described the mistake as 'really simple', and explained that while Odinson had 'tried to rectify the bridle', he hadn't succeeded in spotting the issue.
“Base jumping is dangerous because you don’t have a second chance," Harrison said.
“The equipment was checked after he died by a professional rigger and it was in good working condition. There was no problem with his kit."
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Harrison went on to describe his brother as a 'hero' to his three kids, adding: "He will be missed by so many people. He had done more than 5,000 jumps and had jumped all over the world.
“He had jumped in America, Spain, New Zealand, Thailand and the Philippines and had made friends in all of those places."
Paramedics arrived to the scene of the accident shortly after 7:30pm local time.
Police Lieutenant Kamolporn Nadee confirmed in a statement that Odinson's parachute 'malfunctioned' during the jump.
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"The friend who recorded the video of him jumping was questioned and the video was examined as evidence," he said.
“Forensics officers are investigating the case further. They are examining the parachute.”