Zambia minister bunjee jumps over Zambezi in a bid to assure tourists

Zambia’s minister of Tourism Given Lubinda (pictured), has bungee jumped from the Victoria Falls Bridge in an effort to reassure tourists after a New Year’s eve accident where an Australian woman plunged into the crocodile-infested Zambezi River after her rope snapped.

The woman, 22-year-old Erin Langworthy, miraculously survived the 111-metre fall with just cuts, bruises and a broken collar-bone after managing to swim ashore.

Footage of the incident shown around the world quickly became an online sensation.

“The rope cut whilst going down but she managed to swim to the Zimbabwean side. She was treated at Victoria Falls clinic in Zimbabwe and evacuated to South Africa,” said Ms Brenda Muntemba, the commissioner of police in southern Zambia.

In an effort to reassure tourists that bungee jumping was safe, Mr Lubinda, who is also the government spokesperson, on Sunday jumped at the same spot where the accident happened.

The minister said that he wanted to assure the whole world himself that the spot was safe and that Ms Langworthy’s accident had been a one-off.

Bungee jump operators in the area say that at least 150,000 people have jumped over the last 17 years without “incident” and the expedition has a “100 percent safety record”.

Mr Mike Davies, operator of the firm that reportedly organised the jump, said that safety experts had been brought in and all equipment replaced.

Bungee jumping is one of the key tourism experiences in Zambia’s tourist capital, Livingstone.