Article content

An Australian backpacker escaped with only scrapes after a botched bungee jump sent her plunging 111 meters into Africa’s Zambezi River.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Bungee jump miracle escape as woman plunges 111 metres into Zambezi River at Victoria Falls Back to video

On New Year’s Eve, Erin Langworthy, 22, signed up for a bungee jump off the Victoria Falls Bridge, a colonial-era iron bridge spanning the Zambezi River within sight of Victoria Falls and the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

An amateur video captures her leap from the bridge amid cheers of “Erin!” Just as her cord begins to rebound, it snaps. People on the bridge can only watch as her tiny form floated downriver. “Oh my God, who’s going to do something,” said one, just as Ms. Langworthy and her long, trailing rope enters a set of rapids.

Moments after hitting the water “I felt liked I had been slapped all over,” Ms. Langworthy told Australia’s Channel 9. Her feet still bound by the rope, Ms. Langworthy was forced to swim against the current and make for the Zimbabwean side of the river. At one point, she recounted, she needed to dive down and free the rope after it became caught on rocks and debris.