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19 May, 2009 17:02

Skydiver survives 2000 meter fall

A British skydiver has fallen nearly two thousand metres and survived, despite only opening his parachute seconds before hitting the ground.

James Boole was in Russia, filming another skydiver for a TV documentary. But when his partner signaled too late to tell him to open his parachute, he plunged into a mountainside at an estimated 160 kilometers per hour.

James told the British daily The Sun that he felt like he’d been “hit by a speeding truck” after landing.

“I was screaming in pain, coughing up blood. I was very worried I had internal injuries and I might be dying. I thought about telling someone my last words,” Boole told the newspaper.

He's thought to have survived thanks to snow on the ground, but still suffered a broken back and rib, a bruised lung and chipped teeth.

Boole was taken to a hospital in Moscow and put into a back brace before being sent home to the UK.

“People say it all the time, but I feel like the luckiest man in the world,” he told The Sun.

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