[kellyhound]

Northen Chile. The popular belly flop competition was held in Mejillones again. This traditional summer event is part of the long-running municipal festival called "Reyes del Barro", Kings of the Mud, which has been going on for over 23 years.

Participants climb a ladder or platform and launch themselves belly-first into a small pool or pit filled with mud (sometimes mixed with water and sludge).

The goal is to make the most spectacular, stylish, or loudest splash/impact, judged on technique, form, the biggest "plop," or overall entertainment value.

However this time a dramatic accident during one of the competitions took place. A participant named Camilo tried his jump from the ladder into the mud pool but the ladder shifted or moved at the wrong moment. He lost balance and fell head-first hitting the edge around the pool instead of landing properly in the mud.

The impact knocked him unconscious for several minutes, causing a big scare among spectators and organizers.

Fortunately, Camilo recovered quickly, was attended to on-site, and is now out of danger with no serious long-term issues.

The municipality opened an internal review to check safety measures for the event.

[Faust]

What a lucky person, I feel like I would have broken my neck 100%

[DarkSighted]

High 'entertainment value', for sure. Maybe having a rickety little ladder here was part of the appeal...

[kbt3168]

Retards. They simply need to put the back legs of the ladder *in* the mud hole. Then you can safely fall straight down.

[William May]

Or they could shoot them out of a cannon. Then there would be no fiddling around.

[Mr.NoCredit]

Maybe some stabilizing cables on a ladder made from iron and stuck in the ground instead of that cheap-ass, aluminum crap thing they’re using.

[rohmell]

Originally Posted by kellyhound ↗

no serious long-term issues.

His serious long-term issue is that he lives in a country where dumbasses have nothing better to do than to gather and watch other dumbasses jump into a pool of mud.

[akham]

Originally Posted by kbt3168 ↗

Retards. They simply need to put the back legs of the ladder *in* the mud hole. Then you can safely fall straight down.

I think I would describe them as the front legs - but, regardless, you are absolutely correct.

Also, it is apparent to me that none of the people involved with the ladder have studied physics!

[akham]

Originally Posted by William May ↗

Or they could shoot them out of a cannon. Then there would be no fiddling around.

Unless they did some careful preparation and testing the chance that the "contestant" would land in the mud would be even less, I think.

However, there are training videos on the Internet that can be used for guidance on how to hit a small target when propelling a person on a ballistic trajectory ...