This is the heart-stopping moment a base jumper slammed into a cliff face and spiralled out of control – coming within seconds of death before his parachute miraculously deployed.
Footage shows 36-year-old Kirill Blukher leaping from a towering cliff in Brazil in his wingsuit before veering too close to the rock face and being knocked unconscious.
‘I realised mid-exit I might have problems – but it was already the point of no return,’ he told the Daily Mail.
Kirill’s feet clip the side at high speed, sending him spinning at 150mph before his head smashes into the rock and his limp body plummets hundreds of feet toward the ground.
Amazingly, his parachute opens just seconds from impact – jarred loose from its damaged container by the collision.
The daredevil is then seen slumped in his harness, dangling helplessly in mid-air as the person filming says, ‘He’s dead.’
Unable to steer, Kirill somehow landed in the only flat area amid a landscape of sheer cliffs.
This is the heart-stopping moment a base jumper slammed into a cliff face and spiralled out of control – coming within seconds of death before his parachute miraculously deployed
Footage shows 36-year-old Kirill Blukher leaping from a towering cliff in Brazil in his wingsuit before veering too close to the rock face and being knocked unconscious. Kirill’s feet clip the side at high speed, sending him spinning at 150mph before his head smashes into the rock and his limp body plummets hundreds of feet toward the ground
Amazingly, his parachute opens just seconds from impact – jarred loose from its damaged container by the collision
The daredevil is then seen slumped in his harness, dangling helplessly in mid-air as the person filming says, ‘He’s dead
A rescue helicopter was unable to reach the site, forcing his girlfriend and five bystanders he’d met that day to carry him down the mountain for six gruelling hours – with one of them persisting despite severe cramps. Pictured: Kirill and his girlfriend Daniela
Rescuers raced to reach him, expecting to recover a body, but instead found him bleeding, battered – yet alive – lying in a bush on the mountainside.
He suffered multiple severe injuries, including a fractured eye socket, broken nose, brain contusion, fractured shoulder blade, broken ribs, a bruised lung, and extensive tissue damage.
A rescue helicopter was unable to reach the site, forcing his girlfriend and five bystanders he’d met that day to carry him down the mountain for six gruelling hours – with one of them persisting despite severe cramps.
Kirill says their quick thinking and selflessness is the only reason he’s alive today.
‘That’s the part I’m most grateful for,’ he said. ‘Daniela, of course – but the others had met me once in their lives. If I can thank anything, it’s those people.’
He later revealed the devastating toll of the incident, saying he was left with double vision, slow, foggy thinking, and had lost most of his old memories.
Kirill, who has completed roughly 600 base jumps, says the crash came down to a small misjudgment – and a soft take-off point that left him without enough speed.
‘I was choosing between two exits: one crazily steep rock I hate, or a soft termite mound I also hate,’ he said.
Rescuers raced to reach him, expecting to recover a body, but instead found him bleeding, battered – yet alive – lying in a bush on the mountainside
He suffered multiple severe injuries, including a fractured eye socket, broken nose, brain contusion, fractured shoulder blade, broken ribs, a bruised lung, and extensive tissue damage
This image shows Kirill’s fractured eye socket
He later revealed the devastating toll of the incident, saying he was left with double vision, slow, foggy thinking, and had lost most of his old memories
Pictured: Kirill just moments before his accident. Kirill says he remembers nothing of the first 24 hours after the fall
‘Because it was mushy, I didn’t push hard enough and left a little head-high – physics flips you head-low after that. Then my toes clipped the rock and I hit it with my head.’
He also revealed he had broken a long-standing rule minutes earlier after wasps forced him to walk away from the cliff edge.
‘I promised myself if I ever walk away from an exit I won’t come back the same attempt. This was the first time I broke that rule.’
Kirill says he remembers nothing of the first 24 hours after the fall.
‘All summer was tough – double vision, headaches, very slow thinking. Doctors rebuilt the orbital floor behind my right eye with a titanium piece,’ he said.
‘It’s much better now than it was, but some memories just aren’t coming back.’
Despite the near-fatal crash, Blukher insists he won’t give up the sport that almost killed him. ‘Of course I’ll keep jumping,’ he said.
‘My background is financial risk management – you minimise risk but plan for stress scenarios.
‘In BASE, the stress scenario is you die. I had mine; I’m happy the price was this small.’
Despite the near-fatal crash, Blukher insists he won’t give up the sport that almost killed him. ‘Of course I’ll keep jumping,’ he said. Pictured: Kirill’s injured leg
Surgeons told Kirill it was a ‘miracle’ that he survived. Now back home in Switzerland, he’s still healing – slower, foggier, but alive
When he first woke up in hospital, Kirill says even the surgeons couldn’t believe he had survived.
‘The Brazilian doctors were all very excited to see me because it made it to TV there,’ he said.
‘The main doctor who operated on me said it was a bit of a miracle – he was very proud of the surgery and even gave me a gift.’
But Kirill rejects any suggestion that fate was at play.
‘I don’t believe in karma or fate,’ he said. ‘If I can thank anything, it’s the people who carried me down. Without them, I simply wouldn’t be here.’
Now back home in Switzerland, he’s still healing – slower, foggier, but alive.
‘When I woke up in hospital I was very surprised I was alive – and very happy,’ he said.
‘Was I surprised it happened? Of course not. Was I happy that I paid such a small price? Yes.’
