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Tragic Video Shows Russian Dad Careening to His Death While Locked Inside Giant Ball on Mountainside

Jan. 9, 2013 8:24am Jonathon M. Seidl

Russian Man Dies After Falling Off Cliff in Giant Ball While Zorbing

In this frame grab made Wednesday Jan. 9, 2013, taken from APTN video provided by Yekaterina Achkasova, as her husband Denis Burakov climbs inside the large plastic ball called a zorb, with another man, on Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013, at a winter sports venue at Donbay in the Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia. What was supposed to be a thrilling ride down a ski slope inside a giant inflatable ball has ended in tragedy when the zorb veered off course and sailed over a cliff, killing Denis Burakov and leaving the other man badly injured. Credit: AP

MOSCOW (AP) — What was supposed to be a thrilling ride down a ski slope inside a giant inflatable ball ended in tragedy for the two Russian men inside.

The transparent plastic ball – called a zorb – veered off course and sailed over a precipice in the rugged Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia. One man died and the other was badly injured. The terrifying ride was captured on video.

The man who died, 27-year-old Denis Burakov, was with friends at the Dombai ski resort, where they frequently went snowboarding, on Jan. 3 when he decided to take a ride in a zorb being operated next to a beginners’ slope. His friend Vladimir Shcherbakov joined him.

An eight-minute video taken on Burakov’s phone by one of his friends shows the two men being fitted into harnesses inside the zorb, which consists of two polyurethane balls with a layer of air between them. The zorb is then released to roll down the hill, the two men spinning inside.

In this frame grab made Wednesday Jan. 9, 2013, taken from APTN video provided by Yekaterina Achkasova, as her husband Denis Burakov, left, inside the large plastic ball called a zorb, with another man, before tragedy struck on Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013, at a winter sports venue at Donbay in the Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia. Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Screen shot

But the zorb bounces off of the intended path, and a man waiting for it at the bottom of the hill tries in vain to catch the ball before it pops over a rocky ledge and disappears down a gorge below Mount Mussa-Achitara.

The Emergencies Ministry said both men were ejected from the zorb as it tumbled and they landed on the snow about 10 meters (30 feet) apart. They were rescued by two skiers, who then pulled both men up to the top of the hill. Burakov suffered serious spinal injuries and died on the way to the hospital. Shcherbakov suffered a concussion and other injuries and remains hospitalized.

The accident prompted the emergencies minister to demand on Wednesday that Russia address its lax enforcement of safety rules for winter sports, citing a series of accidents over the January holidays. Vladimir Puchkov said during a televised meeting with officials in charge of rescue services across the country that they should take extra measures to ensure safety, in particular at Russia’s ski slopes.

Sergei Loginov, deputy director of Z-orb.ru, the largest supplier of zorbs in Russia, said the zorbing run that killed Burakov was conducted in violation of all safety rules. Zorbing requires a groomed gentle slope with fences on both sides of the track and a secure spot at the bottom where the ball can be safely brought to rest, he said, but none of this was present at Dombai.

Burakov pictures with his wife (Photo source: Daily Mail)

“It’s not even irresponsibility. It’s an experiment on life,” Loginov said. “It’s all or nothing. They either survive or they don’t.”

The sport of zorbing originated in the 1990s in New Zealand and is now done around the world, most often on grassy slopes.

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Comments (153)

American_Made
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:22am
Pretty sad for his wife and kids. May God cradle them and make this time as easy for them as possible.

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- G-WHIZ
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:30am
  Each of these people had the choice…do I do this or not?! No one MADE them do it. Were they(each) thinking of family when they “chose”? What part of “life-ins” replaces the love and care of a dad??
  
  Report this comment
- frust@ted
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:56am
  Gwhiz,
  
  Maybe i missed it but no where in the article did i see anyone in the family trying to place blame on anyone.
  
  So your response to someone asking for someone to comfort there family, is to attack the person that died. Are you trying to justify why we shouldn’t want to comfort the family?
  
  Im the kind of person who deals with death by joking about it, but you deal with death by trying to take away comfort of others.
  
  Report this comment
- steelpanther
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 11:11am
  He’s trying to claim they choose to die, which is a load of crap.
  
  These people are likely the same as most Americans, used to a massive book of laws so they assumed these people running this knew what they where doing. We’ve been conditioned to trust people with such things, and likely didn’t even know anything about it or that their was even a cliff over there.
  
  Report this comment
- Former11BRAVO
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 11:30am
  As much as I feel for this man’s family, it’s really as simple as this:
  
  play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
  
  I hope his kids didn’t inherit his propensity for idiocy. I’m sure there are safe locations to do something like that. But, there can be no doubt: that wasn’t the place.
  
  Still . . . we don’t need nannies to protect us from ourselves. Darwinism usually does just fine by itself.
  
  Report this comment
- kennyg933
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 12:09pm
  Dasvidaniya, comrade.
  
  Report this comment
- JediKnight
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 12:30pm
  @Steel: I do feel very sorry for this family. But while watching the video, I kept thinking “where’s the cliff?” until the camera turned. I’m sure these guys are very smart, but I don’t think I would’ve taken the chance. I would’ve taken one look at that slope and said “How are you going to keep the ball from getting away and going down that?”. Of course, no amount of encouragement would get me in the ball at that point.
  
  They don’t need more laws for something like this. The people running the thing need to erect real, strong barriers. It’ll definitely raise their costs, but it’d be a lot safer than this.
  
  Report this comment
- naughtycal
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 1:15pm
  FRUST@TED,
  Gwhiz is the product of godlessness. The further society moves from Christ the further they move from compassion,love and simpathy for their fellow man. That’s not saying all people whoi don’t believe don’t have compassion. It’s saying that moving away from religous makes apathy the rule not the acception.
  
  Report this comment
- Crazy Times
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 1:42pm
  @ frust@ted,
  I will have to disagree with your hypothsis of yourself. If you wanted of “comfort others” like you say, you would be coming up with a fund to have money (or other needs) donated to his family.
  
  but instead, you are here, mocking others (as I am currently doing to you- if you haven’t figured it out yet) on what they post.
  
  So stop watching your price is right, (not as challenging a wheel of fortune, right?) contact your parents, and let them know you find real confort in providing real help to others in need; they will be shock and surpised, and soon thereafter, happiness will begin to enter back into your life again.
  
  Report this comment
- steelpanther
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 2:28pm
  @Jedi
  
  I in no means meant that their should be more laws in place(although the people running the zob thingy need to pay the consequences).
  
  My point I was trying to make was simply that we are (as a people and a species) lead to believe that people wouldn’t have us doing things like this if it wasn’t safe. And to top it off they probably watched several other people that didn’t have any problems.
  
  I didn’t watch the video, I almost never watch them, it’s faster for me to read the article that usually writes down what the video says word for word, but I think it doesn’t disprove my point, they where duped by both these people running it and society as a whole that it was safe. Lack of teaching people critical thinking and that their is evil and incompetency in the world.
  
  This repeated thing of they choose to get in and therefore deserved to die is sick. I may believe there are a few people that need some teeth knocked out, but death is a bit drastic.
  
  Report this comment
- t00nces2
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 6:02pm
  I see a few people insulting the poor guy who got killed for being reckless. Accidents happen. Sonny Bono and Robert Kennedy slammed into trees skiing, I have skied many times (but death skiing is a possibility). People die from sky diving. I have sky dived. People have died cliff diving. I have cliff dived. I do not consider myself reckless.
  
  Report this comment
- ltb
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 6:02pm
  If that ride was near the bottom of a mountain I might try it. At the top of a mountain, though? Seriously? I mean who would ever think that rolling around inside of a humongous ball on top of a mountain, near huge cliffs, would be dangerous? I wonder if that same company offers to fly people around inside of huge box kites near power lines.
  
  Report this comment
- frust@ted
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 6:15pm
  crazytimes,
  
  no where in my post did i mention what i would do to comfort this family. My post was in direct response to gwhiz who felt it neccesarry to reply to a post asking for comfort to the mother and child, and trying to give a reason why they were not deserving of comfort.
  
  Thats the equivelent of me telling someone i’m praying for you and someone butting in and saying “God isn’t real you know”. It’s not the appropriate time for that comment.
  
  Report this comment
- Techcon
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 6:34pm
  A little knowledge is a dangerous thing indeed:
  
  “The accident prompted the emergencies minister to demand on Wednesday that Russia address its lax enforcement of safety rules for winter sports…”
  
  No video, no gov’t exploitation!
  
  Report this comment
- Scarbo
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 6:55pm
  My dear Steel P. I say this with all good intentions and mean no insult. But take a minute (that’s really all it’ll take) and learn the difference between ‘their’ and ‘there’. It’s no biggy.
  
  Report this comment
- 226crimsontrace
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:55pm
  Darwin Award Contender.
  A “good father” wouldn’t risk his life to idiotically
  
  Report this comment
- Keatonc33
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 1:07am
  G-WHIZ… you are truly an awful person! the worst type of person… i choose to get in a car every day on my way to work. If i die in a car crash does it make it easier on my family because it was my choice? of course not. grow up and in the future try not to be such a worthless piece of ****
  
  Report this comment
- Keatonc33
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 1:12am
  CRAZY TIMES.. Frus@rated said “So your response to someone asking for someone to comfort there family,” nothing about he he/she is going to comfort him.. come on dude at least read the comment your disagreeing with.. it’ll make you look smarter!
  
  Report this comment
- Keatonc33
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 1:14am
  226crimsontrace… we all risk our lives every day. from getting in a car, to crossing a street, to turning on your oven, to just going out in public.. does that make us all bad parents? The fact that your attacking a dead dad’s parenting for dying just shows how depraved of a person you are!
  
  Report this comment
- dmerwin
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 1:13am
  Something about the Darwin Award speaks to us here.
  
  Report this comment
OniKaze
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:17am
You know, That looked REALLY fun until the last drop at the end…

I would like to try this (minus the cliff and subsequent freefall…)!

It is a shame that this happened. Best thoughts to the friends and family of the two men..

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- CABERNETQHS
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 12:16pm
  Tip: If you do careen off a cliff, ask the well-meaning rescuers to wait for a neck board before dragging your fun-loving arse up the hill.
  
  Report this comment
IKW
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:14am
Darwin lives on!

Seriously, why would anyone want to do something as idiotic as roll down a mountain inside of a ball? Tell ya what, for those out there who thinks this sounds like fun, first get inside of a large tire and let your friends roll it as fast as they can, if you are not tired of this in about 20 seconds…please, by all means, get inside the ball. ;-)

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- brigott
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:56am
  That “inside the tire thing” – yup, as kids we loved to do that on the farm with a tractor tire – even down hills.
  
  Report this comment
- frust@ted
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:58am
  You sound like a really exciting person, enjoy your day filled with scrabble and watching wheel of fortune.
  
  Report this comment
- Bangstick
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 4:23pm
  Lot’s of stupid stuff can be done in relative safety and people will pay money to do it just for laughs.
  
  It’s just really stupid to do that stuff without the proper safety constraints, which in this case, there were none.
  
  I just wonder if Russia has any kind of liability laws we have here in the states.
  
  Report this comment
avgconservative
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:13am
Peter Gabriel used a Zorb Ball in concert:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66gOWQ6Q0Sg

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Mapache
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:10am
The first candidate for the Darwin Awards of 2013

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- tajloc
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 11:33am
  great idea
  
  Report this comment
IndyGuy
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:59am
Gravity sux…

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BasketFullOfPuppies
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:55am
I don’t think safety rules can fix life for people that are incapable of distinguishing a bad idea from a good one.

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- lordjosh
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:16am
  Well they have no need to check for themselves that the course was safe. Everone else is doing it. The gubmint is responsible for making sure I’m safe, right. So just get in the giant ball and go!
  They frequently snowboard there so it is safe to say that they new there was a cliff there.
  People need to take responsibility for themselves. Give up responsibility, give up freedom.
  
  Report this comment
- Shamrock241
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:19am
  I think your confused these people are from Russia not the total unacomplishment that is Black Africa. Now go ahead and feel free to call me a racist because it’s ok to bash your fellow white brother but not Um Ga Wah.
  
  Report this comment
- frust@ted
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:59am
  shamrock,
  
  OK, Racisit. Now it’s not really bashing you if its the truth, it’s called being honest.
  
  Report this comment
- Max jones
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 3:04pm
  Here is an observation from the lefts favorite prophet:
  Since the dawn of history the blackman has owned the continent of Africa – rich beyond the dream of poet’s fancy, crunching acres of diamonds beneath his bare black feet and yet he never picked one up from the dust until a white man showed to him its glittering light.
  His land swarmed with powerful and docile animals, yet he never dreamed a harness, cart, or sled. A hunter by necessity, he never made an axe, spear, or arrowhead worth preserving beyond the moment of its use. He lived as an ox, content to graze for an hour. In a land of stone and timber he never sawed a foot of lumber, carved a block, or built a house save of broken sticks and mud.
  With league on league of ocean strand and miles of inland seas, for four thousand years he watched their surface ripple under the wind, heard the thunder of the surf on his beach, the howl of the storm over his head, gazed on the dim blue horizon calling him to worlds that lie beyond, and yet he never dreamed a sail.” — Charles Darwin
  
  Report this comment
- MAProg
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 4:44pm
  @Max: defininitely not a Darwin quote. It’s from “The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan” written in 1905 by Thomas F. Dixon Jr. It’s often falsely attributed, likely intentionally, by fundamentalsts to Darwin.
  
  Report this comment
LatvianinUS
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:47am
Vacation suggestion for someone.

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- TelepromoterNChief
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 12:13am
  It would be cheap…relatively speaking.
  
  Report this comment
smojet
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:38am
These types of stories make me want to avoid news sites. They are just tragic and make you feel awful, but serve no purpose other than to warn you about another way you could die from a freak accident. When I signed in to The Blaze TV today, it ran a commercial for The Blaze saying they wanted a dialogue, so here’s my feedback. Unless there’s some use for the information, could we avoid posting stories that just depress?

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- woodyee
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:05am
  Stories that just depress – you mean like anything Obammy and his administration are doing daily?
  
  I can’t think of anything on the Blaze more depressing than that, and we NEED that information. Everything else, including “Cleansing of the Gene Pool” stories are here for our entertainment – grab a cup of coffee and re-watch the video.
  
  What do you think was the longest airborne distance traveled by this ball, as seen on the video?
  Do you think these guys had anything more than jello going through their minds when they careened off the cliff?
  Will this “ride” make the Guinness Book of Records?
  
  Report this comment
- AzThunder
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 2:26pm
  Stay in bed.! If you don’t want to read “bad news” you better find a BUBBLE to live in that won’t be Regulated/Taxed/Nudged/Bumped/Racist/PoliticalyCorrect/Bounce to High/Bounce to Low/Inflated to Proper PSI/…….. Aw heck, might as well get in the dang ball and go over the cliff !!!!
  
  Report this comment
- Max jones
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 3:09pm
  Thunder you said what I was thinking……..protected and isolated may seem like a smart plan, but ends up with shackles………..We live,,,,we do not hide from life.
  
  Report this comment
- smojet
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 3:17pm
  You people are missing the point. I clearly and obviously did not object to all bad news. It’s that it’s tragic, depressing, AND I gain nothing by reading it. Learning about what’s going on in the world is useful. And I just don’t find other people’s tragedies entertaining.
  
  Report this comment
Jetlander
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:36am
Kudos to the poor soul who was chasing the ball for the last half of the video. He sure gave it the ol’ college try, in trying to stop the inevitable!

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- BoyScout_Mom
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:57pm
  Wish he could have just started stabbing it with a knife when he reached them. Looks like he made contact with the thing twice. Even if the guys inside the thing could have just started stabbing it, maybe they would have made it. Note to self: If ever dumb enough to want to try this, make sure pocket knife is available.
  
  Report this comment
- dogday
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 1:11am
  That’s what I was thinking about while watching–he tried!
  
  Report this comment
salvawhoray
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:29am
Slip sliding away, slip sliding away
You know the nearer your destination, the more you slip sliding away

“Simon And Garfunkel”

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woodyee
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:14am
The cleansing of the gene-pool…

Where was it when we needed it in Kenya…or was it Hawaii…or was it Indonesia…

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- jcldwl
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:26am
  Idiocy man pure idiocy….but it’s people that think like this guy that are here in the U.S. that voted for the man with the skinnies.
  
  Report this comment
- Comcast3
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:58am
  @WOODYEE, if you spent as much time in Russia as I, you would have never typed that first line. You would be very surprised at how similar the average Russian is to Americans. Their Tsar’s and political leaders have never once given them a chance. Now, we are experience the very same thing. Instead of Stalin or Lenin, we have, angry, half-black, Obama, and “dreams of his father”.
  
  Report this comment
- woodyee
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:09am
  I was referring to Darwinism, but I understand. Brrrr! THAT sent a chill up my spine…
  
  Report this comment
- Shamrock241
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:26am
  @Comcast Thanks for Your post and you are spot on, i think many here would change their opinion if they actually took a trip to St Petersburg or Moscow.
  
  Report this comment
- woodyee
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:41am
  BTW, Comcast, I’m glad to make your acquaintance!
  
  ;-)
  
  Report this comment
- Max jones
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 3:15pm
  Russia runs on organized “crime”, There was no other reliable suppliers of necessities for decades. Rebels all. No other way to live. I like them.
  
  Report this comment
SpankDaMonkey
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:10am
.
Who thought this was a good idea in the first place? Sounds like one of those Drunk Redneck ideas gone horribly wrong……

It started with “Here Bubba hold my beer” I’m a climb into this ball and then you and junior shove me down the mountain……

I mean what could go wrong?………

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love the kids
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:09am
Obummer would have been OK if that was him because he has “So much more flexibility now that the election was stolen”

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- MN NICE
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 3:03pm
  LOL. And remember… Bumbles bounce – these two guys… Not so much
  
  Report this comment
Leonardoverse.com
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:08am
Feel bad for the family but when you become a dad, life is not about you anymore.

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- Ozonekiller
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:23am
  So true..My wife and I sold her street bike, and have three dirt bikes that have been parked in the garage until the little guy gets old enough to enjoy. I also fortunately have the option to not work on roofs anymore. I ended that once he was born.
  
  Report this comment
HTuttle
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:04am
“They were rescued by two skiers, who then pulled both men up to the top of the hill. Burakov suffered serious spinal injuries and died on the way to the hospital.”

Not that he wouldn’t have died anyway but not waiting for a backboard recovery might have ensured his death.

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SpankDaMonkey
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:01am
.
Guess they better change the name from Zorb to Death Ball………….

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M4-A1
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:52am
Wow smoking hot wife, wonder if she would like to move west….now that she’s single.

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- ArmedAndReallyPissed
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:01am
  I already asked her. She said she will never move to a Communist Kountry.
  
  Report this comment
chips1
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:48am
I’ve heard of two balls and a Richard, but this was two Richards and a ball.

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Frederick_Douglass_Republican
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:47am
So this means the Russian authorities are going to set “safety rules” for everyone to be confined to when enjoying recreation in the snow because someone is dumb enough to go down a hill in an uncontrollable ball when there is a cliff off to one side near the bottom?
Come on Russia! Thats the kind of junk think you pushed in America to destroy it! Don’t take the poison yourselves now!

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- xevnoc
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:59am
  No, they won’t. Russia is not even close to US nanny levels, and hopefully will never go down that path.
  
  Report this comment
johnsell
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:45am
How do you fix STUPID!

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- whatthecrazy
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:24am
  Appearantly
  
  You stick em in a ball and roll em off a cliff?
  
  Report this comment
- Shamrock241
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 10:34am
  I hope you find the answer quick because 47% just decided how America will be destroyed
  
  Report this comment
lel2007
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:43am
Вот дерьмо!

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ArmedAndReallyPissed
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:40am
In other STUNNING News, seven Mountain Climbers died while attempting to reach the peak of Mount Everest. Film at 10.

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lel2007
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:38am
The price sometimes paid by thrill seekers. Such a senseless way to die.

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SUNTZU
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:36am
New way to play
Russian Rollette (roulette)
Whatever

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- The Giver
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 8:59am
  Very clever! As someone who has jumped out of a plane, I know that there are no guarantees when you do these kinds of things. Many times you have to sign that you release them of all responsibility should something go wrong. This seemed reckless to have a huge bouncing ball with the drop off to the left not protected. I wish his wife and family strength at this time. May he be in God’s glory now.
  
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- SUNTZU
  Posted on January 9, 2013 at 9:10am
  I know,I was a jumper too,got paid to do it.
  Just saying,
  Pay your nickle,take your chance.
  
  Report this comment

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