ALOR SETAR, Malaysia, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- An Australian woman practicing parachuting from a 540-foot-high tower in Malaysia died Tuesday afternoon after her chute failed to open, a witness said.
Tantikey Lie Marion, 42, was dead at the scene after hitting the concrete surface near a wall at Menara Alor Setar in Alor Setar, Kedah, The (Malaysia) Star reported.
Marion was practicing BASE jumping, a risky activity in which people with parachutes leap from buildings, antennae, spans (bridge), and earth (cliff).
Witness Mohd Zaidi Zainol Abidin, 41, said he saw Marion jump off the tower and her parachute failed to deploy.
"I was standing about 100 meters (328 feet) from the tower when she jumped," Mohd Zaidi Zainol Abidin, 41, said. "I saw her struggling to pull open the parachute but she failed."
Marion and 19 other jumpers had just arrived in the city for a training session to prepare for the three-day KL Tower International Jump starting Oct 7, the newspaper said. The group had conducted several jumps before the fatal accident, but it was Marion's first leap from the tower.
Tower General Manager Mazlan Mahmud confirmed the incident but did not provide any details, The Star said.
