March 25--TWIN FALLS -- Two BASE jumpers were injured Monday evening after a jump from the Perrine Bridge went wrong.
One of the men was flown to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, the other was taken by ground ambulance to St. Luke's Magic Valley Medical Center.
He was identified as James E. Rawe, 24, of Draper, Utah, said Twin Falls County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Lori Stewart. Stewart did not know the other man's name as of 9:30 p.m. Monday.
Twin Falls Police Department and Twin Falls County Sheriff's Office responded to the call, which came in about 5:15 p.m.
A crowd of spectators on the Snake River Canyon rim grew to watch the rescue.
Eyewitnesses Regan Harr and Morgan Olson said they watched the two jumpers practice on a bridge railing and later watched the jump.
Harr said one jumper was standing on the other's shoulders, and it appeared to her that the jumper who was standing on the railing may have jumped too soon.
The jumper who was on top hit his legs on the railing, which sent both into a spin, Olson said.
Harr said the top jumper hit the bottom jumper's chute in the air, and they fell spinning to the ground. They landed near the river but not in the water.
By 5:45 p.m. air ambulance and Search and Rescue boats were on the scene.
One jumper had been loaded into a search and rescue boat, taken to the park docks and loaded into an ambulance by 6:10 p.m. A helicopter took off with the second jumper at 6:20 p.m.
The accident came hours after Zion National Park officials in Moab, Utah said they found the body of a missing BASE jumper, marking the third death in two months by adventurers attempting to parachute off of Utah cliffs. The body was spotted by helicopter Sunday afternoon. It's unclear when the jumper went missing.
BASE jumping, which involves jumping with a parachute from buildings, bridges and other towering features, is illegal in Zion National Park. BASE jumping from the Perrine Bridge is legal.
In early February, 28-year-old Amber Bellows of Salt Lake City died in Zions park when her parachute failed to open. On Friday, 35-year-old Kevin A. Morroun of Moab died jumping from a cliff west of Moab.
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Copyright 2014 - The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho
