A British base jumper has fallen to his death after his parachute failed to open.
Nathy Odinson, a 33-year-old from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, climbed to the top of a 29-floor apartment building in the coastal resort of Pattaya, Thailand.
The incident, which happened on Saturday, was recorded by a friend of the daredevil.
In the clip, Mr Odinson can be seen asking the person behind the camera, who stood on the other side of a security wall, whether the recorder on his helmet was flashing a red light, which would indicate it was recording.
After realising it wasn’t, Mr Odinson removed the protective headgear and pressed the button to begin the recording.
Shortly after putting back on the helmet, he can be seen checking his parachute.
Seconds before his death, the man could be seen counting down, “Three, two, one, see ya”. Mr Odinson then leapt into the night sky and plunged to the ground, with only the small pilot chute flailing behind him while he was in the air. Before hitting the ground, Mr Odinson is believed to have landed in a tree.
The friend recording the incident can be heard saying “Oh f***” after hearing Mr Odinson falling to his death.
The daredevil was pronounced dead at the scene by the paramedics who had been called shortly after the fall.
Security guard Kanet Chansong, 33, recalled the horrific incident as he said: “I heard the sound of the tree and I thought it was a fallen branch hitting the ground. A woman screamed so I walked over and realised it was a person. They were dead. I saw that they had jumped from the building.”
The security guard went on to claim this wasn’t the first time Mr Odinson had jumped from that building, despite knowing “it was not allowed”.
Staff at the Lumpini Ville Naklua building said CCTV suggested the daredevil and his friend had parked outside the apartment complex and sneaked inside when it was quiet enough to do so. They then illegally trespassed onto the roof of the building, and Mr Odinson climbed over a small concrete wall on the roof in order to reach its edge.
Speaking about the incident, Lieutenant Kamolporn Nadee, Deputy Inspector of Investigations at the Bang Lamung district police station, said: “The parachute that the deceased used to jump malfunctioned and was not centred as expected. He was in a terrible state when we arrived. The friend who recorded the video of him jumping was questioned and the video was examined as evidence.
“Forensics officers are investigating the case further. They are examining the parachute.”
Police informed the British embassy in Bangkok, which is contacting Mr Odinson’s relatives in the UK.
Mr Odinson ran a sky photography company and took clients on private sky dives.
