- A video of a couple in China suspended in mid-air and refusing to leave after bungee jumping has gone viral on mainland social media
- In the end, a worker had to slide down the rope to make the couple attach the safety mechanism so they could be lifted away
A video of a couple reportedly refusing to leave after bungee jumping in southwestern China and remaining suspended in the air while hugging to “show off their love” publicly has trended on mainland social media.
The incident occurred on February 11 at the Shengming Amusement Park in Chongqing, Guizhou TV reported.
When the couple’s bungee jumping ended, a rope – which they were supposed to use to return to the 55-metre-high platform – was automatically lowered to them.
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However, they refused to connect the rope’s safety mechanism to a harness around their waist as required. Instead, they remained hanging upside down in the air.
“When we told them they should leave the site, they said they didn’t want to come down. They just wanted to play in the air. They wanted to express their love in the air,” an anonymous park employee told Guizhou TV. “It is not an accident at all.”
In the end, a worker at the park had to slide down the rope to make the couple attach the safety mechanism to their harness so they could be lifted to the platform.
The park said its staff had shown the couple how to fasten the safety mechanism before they started their jump.
The unnamed staffer said after the couple were elevated to the platform, his colleagues told them it was not safe for them to stay hanging upside down for too long. The couple were reportedly unharmed by their stunt, according to the report.
The video of the stunt has trended online and has been watched more than four million times on Douyin and five million times on Weibo, with most of the comments critical of the couple.
“Using a scenario where their safety was at risk to show off their love? I don’t understand,” said one person.
However, public opinion changed a few days later when a coach working at the bungee jumping park provided a different explanation for the couple’s stunt, The Cover reported.
According to coach Chen Renping, the couple stayed in the air longer than needed because the woman was so scared that she held her boyfriend tightly, leaving him unable to stretch out his hand to activate the safety mechanism.
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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.
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