[bagofsmoke]

Originally Posted by PTSD Is My Life ↗

bounce, bounce, bounce, booooooooooooooooooonceycrunch whoopsie!!

Could have been worse I suppose....the ice on the lake the Zorb stopped on could have cracked as the rescue team arrived!!
Poor fecks just went for a 5 minute fun ride...

erm except one died :L
and the other dude had to zorb there with his pals corpse for a while

[royals68]

Zorb + Big mountain = Darwin = fate - talk about stupid

[dwencl]

Rolling 300(ish)LBS down a slope in a huge ball to be caught by one/two people with only 50feet of grace room before going off a cliff... what could possibly go wrong?


Going down a hill on an inner tube is about my speed...

[rebel541]

:dance b

[bigdisco00]

zorbing makes me think of zorbx

[ali_ihsan21]

I wonder what they looked like when they found them

[deanmine]

An extreme winter activity turned into tragedy, after a zorb with two tourists inside lost control and plunged into a creek in Dombay mountain area, in Russia's south. One of the two young men died, the other suffered a concussion.

MOSCOW — Russia has launched an investigation into the death of a 27-year-old man in an inflatable "zorb" ball that tumbled down a mountainside in a horrific accident that was caught on video, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Denis Burakov, 27, died of his injuries after he and a friend, Vladimir Shcherbov, 33, paid to roll in the zorb down an unfenced snow slope at a ski resort in the Karachayevo-Cherkessia region of the North Caucasus.

"We have launched a criminal case into causing death through providing unsafe services," said Sergei Shuvayev, spokesman for the regional investigative committee. The charge carries a maximum prison sentence of six years.

The zorb veered off a snowy track and rolled into a gorge, continuing for around a kilometre before stopping on a frozen lake, investigators said. The accident occurred on January 3.

"As a result of the fall, Burakov died of his injuries, while Shcherbov was hospitalised with serious injuries," investigators said in a statement.

Shcherbov "is in a serious state but his life is not in danger," Shuvayev told AFP on Wednesday.

Investigators have identified two organisers who have not been detained but "will be questioned in the near future," Shuvayev said.

Zorbing is an extreme adventure sport invented in the 1990s in which participants roll down slopes strapped inside large transparent plastic balls.

In a video of the incident posted on the Internet, organisers can be heard saying the ride cost 300 rubles ($10) per person.

People watching can be heard asking organisers: "What is down there?" as the zorb rolls over the edge of the gorge.

[deanmine]

MOSCOW -- It was supposed to be a thrilling ride down a ski slope inside a giant inflatable ball that is to be one of the symbols of next year's Winter Olympics; it ended in tragedy for the two Russian men inside.

The transparent plastic ball – known as a zorb – veered off course and sailed over a rock ledge in the rugged Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia. The ball picked up speed as it flew down the steep slope, rolling and bouncing. One man was killed and the other badly injured.

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.

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 person filming the video is heard swearing and asking "What's down there?" The answer from someone off camera: "It's a catastrophe down there."

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 after having rolled about 1.5 kilometers (a mile). Still conscious and able to stand, 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

[ihavetopee32]

That's just sad, wtf. The man never expected he would die.

[jesse]

Geez....just trying to have a little fun and look what happens..