Austrian Stuntman Parachutes Off Mexico City's Highest Skyscraper
 Associated Press
| | Austrian stuntman Felix Baumgartner, 36, successfully parachutes off Mexico City's highest skyscraper, Monday, Jan. 30 , 2006, in Mexico City. Baumgartner launched himself off the 225-meter (738-foot) Torre Mayor, a building located on Mexico City's main Reforma Avenue whose constructors claim is Latin America's tallest skyscraper. (AP/Eduardo Verdugo) |
Mexico City – An Austrian stuntman who claims world records for BASE jumping parachuted off the top of Mexico City's highest building Monday before escaping in a Hummer to avoid police capture.
Felix Baumgartner, 36, launched himself off the 225-meter (738-foot) Torre Mayor on Mexico City's main Reforma Avenue, starting with a free fall and then floating downward under an opened parachute as about 200 curious onlookers gathered below.
Baumgartner spoke briefly with the news media before jumping into a Hummer driven by friends and speeding away. The extreme-sports enthusiast apparently had not obtained a permit for his jump and local authorities tried unsuccessfully to detain him for putting the public and himself in danger.
On his Web site, Baumgartner claims to hold the world record for the highest parachute dive, off the 1,479-foot (450-meter) Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 1999; and for the lowest, from the 29-meter (95-foot) Christ statue in Rio de Janeiro, also in 1999.
BASE is an acronym for Building, Antenna, Span, and Earth, the fixed objects from which parachutists make their BASE jumps, according to several Web sites on the subject.
It was not clear what the purpose of Monday's jump was. |
Vallarta Weddings
News Around the Republic of Mexico | January 2006 
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us