When you watch shows on TV about people breaking world records, you may hold your breath and let loose a few gasps, but the whole scenario is always safe and clear. What you don’t see on these shows and read in these magazines is the dark side of breaking world records. For every man or woman who has set a new death-defying record, there’s a couple of people who have just not been as lucky, and with tragic consequences.
Here are some people who died while trying to break world records.
1. Sailendra Nath Roy
Died while trying to break the world record for the longest distance travelled on a zip wire using his hair
Indian stuntman and daredevil Sailendra Nath Roy was attempting to break the Guinness world record for the farthest distance travelled on a zip wire using his hair in 2013. Halfway across, the Teesta River in Darjeeling, he is thought to have suffered a massive cardiac arrest, and the cheers of his onlooking fans turned to screams of horror as they realised he had died.
2. Haris Suleman
Died while trying to become the youngest person to fly around the world in 30 days
17-year-old Indian Haris Suleman was attempting to fly around the world in 30 days in 2014, in a bid to break the record for the youngest person in the world to do so in such a short time. The plane crashed shortly after leaving Pago Pago in American Samoa however, killing both Haris and his father.
3. Janaka Basnayake
Died while trying to set the record for being buried alive the longest
24-year-old Janaka Basnayake of Sri Lanka wanted to set the record for being buried alive. He was placed in a ten-foot hole, and his body was covered over with soil after he’d secured himself in a wood chamber on a Saturday morning at 9:30 AM. Around 7 hours later, he was unconscious upon excavation, and was pronounced dead soon after.
4. Juan Francisco Guillermo
Died trying to set the record for cycling around the world
Juan Francisco Guillermo was a Chilean cyclist who was trying to cycle 250,000km around five continents in five years to set a world record. On the last stretch of his 5 year goal, a truck on a highway in Nakhon Ratchasima province hit him, and he was killed instantly.
5. Jessica Dubroff
Died trying to become the youngest person to fly across the US
Jessica Whitney Dubroff was a seven-year-old pilot trainee who tried to set the record to become the youngest person to fly an airplane across the United States. In 1996, she was accompanied by her flight instructor and her father, and when they tried to take off in bad weather, the plane flipped and crashed, killing all three passengers.
6. Nicholas Mevoli
Died trying to break the record for deepest dive without fins
Nicholas Mevoli, 32, was attempting to break the record of 71 meters for deepest dive without fins among American men in 2013. The world record is a 101 meters. After hitting 72 meters, he surfaced and even signalled he was okay. However, due to some pressure problems on his lungs, blood started pouring from his mouth, and he died a few hours later.
7. Diana Paris
Died while trying to break a skydiving record
46-year-old German sky diver Diana Paris was part of a 222 person collective attempting to break a world record for the largest number of people to complete two aerial formations before deploying their parachutes. However, she was killed when her main parachute malfunctioned and failed to fully open during one of the attempts.
8. Guy Garman/ Doc Deep
Died trying to break the record for deepest recreational scuba dive
Guy Garman, also known as Doc Deep, attempted to set a world record for a recreational scuba dive of 1,200 feet this year. However, after diving in a certain depth, he did not come back up, and the body was recovered some time later. He was in his late 50s.
9. Lowell Bayles
Died trying to break the world speed record
Lowell was a celebrated American air race and stunt pilot. In the 1931 National Air Races, he tried and succeeded in breaking the world speed record by going 300 MPH. However, in a freak accident, the plane’s fuel cap came loose, flew through the windshield and struck Bayles in the head and knocked him out. The plane crashed and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
10. Javad Palizbanian
Died trying to break the record for longest jump on a motorcycle
44-year-old Iranian daredevil attempted to break the world record for long distance jumps on a motorcycle in 2005. He tried jumping over 22 buses parked side by side, a distance of around 209 feet, but crashed into the 13th bus, which killed him instantly.