Jumper survives 6,000ft free fall

[Onyx]

A skydiver from Staffordshire has survived a 6,000ft free fall in Russia without his parachute.

James Boole, from Tamworth, said he was supposed to have been given a signal by another skydiver to open the parachute, but it came two seconds too late.

Mr Boole, who was filming the other skydiver for a television documentary, landed on snow-covered rocks and suffered a broken back and rib.

"What went through my mind was my wife and my daughter," he said.

"I really thought that I was going to die - incredible feeling of sadness and just how unfair that was."

Mr Boole, who has made 2,500 jumps, is now back at home in a body brace.

He said: "(The other flyer) took us so close to the ground where I thought I was dead.

"When I finally looked at the ground and realised how low I was, I knew there was no time for me to get a full parachute above my head.

"For the first 48 hours after the accident I thought maybe I am dead and this is some kind of after-life limbo, or some other reality, because I couldn't make sense of it - how I was still here to come through this?"

His wife, Kristina, who is also a skydiver, said: "For the moment I'm thinking just of him to recover, so not about jumping or anything like that.

"But yeah (I) would like him to stop doing that."

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