BASE jumper dies in Idaho

TWIN FALLS, Idaho – A 29-year-old man from Massachusetts died when his parachute failed to open after he jumped from a bridge spanning the Snake River Canyon in southern Idaho, authorities said.

Yegor Drozdov, of Revere, Mass., died Tuesday after jumping from Perrine Bridge, a popular area for BASE jumpers, who parachute from high, fixed objects, Twin Falls sheriff’s spokeswoman Nancy Howell said. BASE is an acronym for building, antenna, span, earth, the four categories of objects from which one can jump in the extreme sport.

She said Southern Idaho Regional Communications received a call at 4:26 p.m. from someone reporting that a BASE jumper would be jumping off the bridge, standard procedure for BASE jumpers who are asked to check in before leaping.

Twenty minutes later, the sheriff’s office received a call from a witness “saying they had seen someone jump off the bridge and their parachute didn’t open and they hit the land below,” Howell told the Associated Press on Wednesday. Howell said Drozdov’s body was recovered by authorities who reached the area by boat.

More than 5,000 jumps are made annually from the 486-foot-long bridge that spans the Snake River Gorge. The bridge is the world’s most-frequented BASE jumping location.

Two people died BASE-jumping from the bridge last year.