Miracle survival of base jumper Matthew as parachute fails

But despite the odds stacked against him surviving Matthew Gough miraculously escaped with cuts and bruises.

The 25 year-old base jumper from Chorley, near Burntwood, in Staffordshire, captured the images of his latest daredevil stunt at Lake Garda in Italy using a head camera.

Matthew had previously completed 180 successful base jumps, as well as 700 sky dives, but this time the parachute failed to open properly and became twisted.

Despite crashing onto rocks before landing in sand he managed to escape with minor injuries to his ankles and knees as well as a bloodied nose. The footage shows him careering towards the ground and landing, dazed, in a heap. He was then taken away in an ambulance.

Matthew took the plunge on April 23 as he travelled the world taking part in extreme sports. He used to work in sales and marketing but saved up enough money to travel and indulge his adrenaline-pumping hobbies. He has since flown back to Britain.

Matthew, who took up base jumping after completing hundreds of skydives, has recalled the horrifying moment he thought he was going to die.

He said: "I feel massively lucky."

Recalling the horrifying moment he thought he was going to die Matthew said: "I prepared for the jump, everything felt really good. Then I performed a 'track', which means you are flying forwards.

"Everything was going fine and then I pulled the parachute. The problem was the deployment was really slow, it comes down to simple bad luck, nothing else, the conditions were fine, the parachute twisted and when it inflated it was facing backwards.

"Due to the twists I couldn't control it. I didn't have the time or space to avoid the impact. When I impacted the first time I started spinning which made the situation worse, the parachute twisted even more before going into a dive and then spiralled towards the ground while I was smashing against the cliff. All I could think about was trying to stay alive. I knew the final impact was coming and if I hit the floor at the speed I was travelling, I was in a lot of trouble.

"I managed to hang off one side of the canopy and get away from the cliff but couldn't control it, I didn't know if I was going to hit the floor or go into the lake."

Matthew, added: "All I was shouting was 'give me something' – it was like I was in a gladiator arena against 10 guys and I was given just a spoon to fight with, I felt I was desperately fighting to stay alive.

"I was trying everything I could to get some kind of control, then I looked down and saw around 10 spikes which I believe were used to hang up wet suits.

"At that point I thought I was going to die so the last thing I shouted was 'I'm going in' which means 'I'm dead'. The spikes were about a foot long and there were 10 of them, the one in the middle went between my helmet and my face and ripped my helmet off, I think it cushioned my fall slightly."

The experience would be enough to put some off but Matthew is still planning more jumps. "When I hit the floor I was shocked I was alive. I am still going to base jump but it has made me more aware of the risks."