A Russian mom snapped a selfie moments before plunging 290 feet to her death as her son watched in horror. Elizaveta “Liza” Gushchina was celebrating her 45th birthday by bungee jumping off an abandoned boiler tower, now used for the extreme sport, in Pavlovsk near St. Petersburg, when she died, according to The Daily Mail.
Gushchina had already made one successful rope jump and captured it with a joyful video where the mom of two could be heard “screaming with joy” as she jumped down and was seen swinging from an “elastic rope” hovering off the ground.
According to The Sun, Gushchina rescaled the tower to “take a selfie as a keepsake” and did so without any safety ropes. The newspaper reported that Russian media noted she slipped and fell, causing her to plunge the previously jumped 290 feet to her sudden and tragic death.
Her 23-year-old son Nikita, who attended with his mom to celebrate her birthday, saw the harrowing event. The Sun also reported that the rope jumping company that operates the facility, 23block, released a statement about her death.
“In tragic circumstances, experienced jumper and mother of two Liza has passed away,” the company wrote, per The Sun. “Elizaveta Gushchina, along with her son Nikita, was a member of our sports team… Now the whole team is mourning her loss, this is a very big tragedy for us.”
The Russian state prosecutor’s office is launching an investigation to determine if the jumping company complied with the law while providing services.
