Man watches in horror as wife plunges to her death
A husband said the words “I love you” moments before his wife died when the extreme sport she was taking part in went horribly wrong. Warning: Distressing
A ‘free-flying’ extreme sport jump instructor has been jailed for four years after a woman plunged to her death in a 30m fall in front of her distraught husband.
Yevgenia Leontyeva, 33, had been reluctant to make the leap in October 2021 from a hotel rooftop, even though she had done so before.
The mother-of-three let her female friend go first, in what was a successful ‘rope free-flying’ leap, a court was told in Karaganda, Kazakhstan.
Witnesses said Yevgenia had appeared “afraid” – but they heard instructor Alexander Muznikas, 33, urging her to jump.
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On footage of the jump, the instructor was heard telling her: “It’s not the first time you’ve jumped. You know how to do it. Did I put a safety harness on you for nothing?”
She is then seen leaping from the rooftop moments after husband Alexander Tkachenko told her: “I love you.”
However things went wrong and she hit the ground, and was pushed into an iron fence after a supporting rope was not properly secured on a tree, according to reports.
In the video, there were screams from onlookers on the roof and watchers below were seen rushing to her assistance.
Rope jumping is similar to bungee jumping, but the rope is made of nylon with a system of bolts and pulleys, so jumpers don’t bounce, but rather slow down as they approach the end of their fall.
But when Yevgenia jumped, a cross-line to which her rope was attached – and which was supposed to break her fall leaving her suspended above the ground – failed to hold or was not secured, the court heard.
A man was also seen falling to the ground as she crashes down, say reports.
He is believed to have been holding the safety line which should have been attached to the tree and he was floored by the force of her fall pulling on the unsecured rope.
“I came to support my wife,” the bereaved husband said.
“My wife was crushed before my eyes. I was in shock and panic,” he said.
“They did not co-ordinate their actions. The instructor didn’t look down to make sure the rope was tied. He just told her: ‘Jump!’”
He added: “After her fall, I knelt beside her. He [the instructor] came, but I don’t remember what happened then. She was still breathing.”
Before the tragic leap, Yevgenia and her friend had posted “Live it up,” and “We’re going to fly,” to their social media accounts.
She suffered a serious skull fracture and brain injuries, and multiple right-sided fractures.
She was rushed to hospital but died as surgeons tried to save her.
Friend Anton Shevelev told the court he had demanded the instructor take off the harness because Yevgenia was “afraid to jump” and they would “go home”.
But Muznikas persuaded her to do the jump, he said.
The woman had three boys aged eight, 11 and 12 – two of her own, and the son of a relative who had died.
Muznikas was convicted of offering services which did not meet safety rules and causing death by negligence and sentenced to four years in prison.
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