A holiday thrill-ride in Russia’s Caucasus mountains has exploded into a national scandal after instructors were filmed dragging a screaming woman to the edge of a platform and kicking her into a 260ft plunge over a canyon, after she begged them to stop.
The footage, shared by Eastern European outlet NEXTA and circulating widely from Telegram channels, shows the woman already strapped into a harness at the Noh’o tourist complex above Dagestan’s Sulak Canyon. She had agreed to the jump. Then, at the last moment, she froze.
‘Please don’t. No, no. Let me go!’ she can be heard shouting as three instructors refuse to unclip her.
One man wraps his arms around her waist and hauls her towards the drop. She braces her feet against the metal platform. A second instructor steps in, presses the back of her leg, bends her knee and forces her to sit on the lip. The platform then tilts. She vanishes over the edge.
Onlookers say staff later laughed at the terrified tourist. Her husband, named in reports as Yegor, filmed the scene rather than intervening. At one point she turns to him: ‘Please, Yegor! Don’t! I’m begging you!’ He does not step in.
The attraction, a canyon swing, or tarzanka, of about 70 metres, is a popular add-on for visitors to Europe’s deepest canyon. Tickets are cheap by Western standards. Safety culture, critics say, is cheaper still. Similar clips of staff shoving reluctant customers off the platform have even been used as promotional material.
This is not an isolated horror story.In late August, 41-year-old Muscovite Anastasia was also pushed from the same type of platform after she asked staff not to send her. She had no time to brace.
Afterwards she could not speak. Her arms and legs went weak. Reflexes vanished. Doctors diagnosed a spinal cord contusion. Reports said she could not get out of bed and that recovery could take around six months. Instructors later admitted a mistake, visited her in hospital and paid compensation.
A note on comments: Our advertisers enforce a strict zero-tolerance policy on racism, hate speech, and threats of violence. Any comment that crosses that line will be removed and the account permanently banned — no warnings. Debate hard, but keep it civil.
A note on comments: Our advertisers enforce a strict zero-tolerance policy on racism, hate speech, and threats of violence. Any comment that crosses that line will be removed and the account permanently banned — no warnings. Debate hard, but keep it civil.