A woman plunged 360 feet into crocodile-infested waters after a bungee jump went horrifically wrong in Zambia.
Erin Langworthy, from Australia, was on an adventure trip in 2012 when she decided to leap from a bridge over the Zambezi River - an area known for its powerful currents and lurking crocodiles.
But what was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime thrill turned into a real-life nightmare when her bungee cord snapped mid-air.
Footage of the terrifying moment was shared on social media, showing Langworthy free-falling into the river after the cord gave way.
The woman was swept downstream by the fierce current, all while her feet remained bound together.
She revealed in an interview with The Guardian that she had to swim through the rushing water and eventually untangle herself when the bungee cord got snagged on rocks.
Miraculously, she survived the impact and avoided the crocodiles. A staff member from the bungee company managed to rescue her from the river, and she was rushed to a hospital in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
Despite the fall happening around 5:30PM, Langworthy didn't arrive at the hospital until 11:00PM. She was placed on a ventilator and given antibiotics to fight off infection from the river water she had swallowed.
Doctors treated her for a range of injuries, including partially collapsed lungs, and monitored her for internal trauma. X-rays later confirmed she had no broken bones.
Langworthy described the chaos following her fall: “I started coughing up blood and began to worry about internal injuries. I just felt exhausted and struggled to process what had happened.”
The bungee company later visited her in the hospital to apologize for the frightening ordeal and expressed disbelief that she had survived.
In a chilling twist, Langworthy revealed to the outlet that she had jokingly written a postcard to her mother just before the death-defying mishap. It read: “I’m doing a bungee jump tomorrow, so I’ll say goodbye… only joking!”
The postcard has since become a cherished reminder of the scary incident, but Langworthy’s mother has made it clear she won’t be signing off on any more stunts.
Reflecting on the incident, Langworthy said: "I'm a positive person, so I've never been angry about what happened."
"Around 50,000 people jump from that spot every year, so it was pure chance that the rope snapped on me – just wear and tear. They've now introduced measures to ensure it doesn't happen again," she concluded.