This is the chilling moment when a young ‘tombstone’ jumped from a high cliff into the sea, sparking a wave of criticism.
Aaron Thomas, 21, says he has five years of experience jumping from terrifying heights near his seaside home on the island PortlandDorset.
The thrill-seeker posted a nail-biting video on social media of him jumping off a cliff near Pulpit Rock.
In it, he can be seen making a running jump from the 70-foot-high ledge and plunge into the water just meters from a huge semi-submerged rock.
Tombstoning is the activity of jumping off a high cliff or ledge while maintaining a vertical, upright position.
Mr Thomas says he was introduced to the practice by his father and that he snorkels around the sites beforehand to assess the risks.
He added that he would “have to deal with it” if he were ever injured.
Aaron Thomas, 21, says he has five years of experience jumping from terrifying heights near his seaside home on Portland Island, Dorset
Thrill-seeker Aaron Thomas posted a nail-biting video of him jumping off a cliff near Pulpit Rock on social media
Social media viewers denounced him for his recklessness as a woman said she knew of a headstone who ended up in a wheelchair when a jump went wrong.
Katrina Gall warned: ‘I went to school with an experienced swimmer and jumper – he’s in a wheelchair for life after misjudging the rocks… Just once, then never back’.
Elsewhere, Jason Brown congratulated Mr Thomas on winning the ‘Darwin Award’ for stupidity.
But self-employed bricklayer Thomas brushed off the complaints, saying it’s “safe if you know what you’re doing.”
Mr Thomas insisted he was following in the footsteps of his father Dave Thomas, 40, who laid headstones all his life.
He said: ‘There are a lot of people who complain about it, but if you know what you’re doing, it’s fine.
Mr Thomas is seen making a running jump from the 70 foot high ledge and falling into the water just meters from a huge semi-submerged rock
Mr Thomas is seen falling into the sea close to the half-submerged rock. He misses the rock just a short distance away, instead plunges into the water
‘The Stacks’ (circled) on Portland Island, Dorset (pictured), where Mr Thomas filmed himself standing on the grave
“My father has been doing it all his life, he has never hurt himself. He is now 40 and he still likes it.
“I notice a lot of older people moaning and saying it’s dangerous – they said you can’t see the rocks.
‘But we’ll snorkel there first and do a depth check. We make sure to jump at high tide – there’s only one rock there and when it’s under water, we know the tide is high enough.
“It’s about 70 feet of drop there, so you need a depth of about 13 feet.
“Someone commented and said that now all teens would copy me – I did have one person tag their partner and say ‘omg we have to do this’. I don’t even think they were from Portland, so that’s worrying.
“They just need to make sure they go out with someone who knows what they’re doing.”
In response, the National Coastwatch Institution in Portland warned Bill that the headstone was “very dangerous” and jumpers risked being swept away by strong currents.
Bob Ward, deputy station manager at the Portland Bill lookout, said: “Tombstones is definitely a very dangerous activity.
“The tide that flows around Portland Bill can exceed four knots, depending on the time of day, and any headstone taker can be swept away by the tide.
“It’s one of our concerns – the shoreline is very dangerous and jumpers should be wary of it.”
On Saturday, it was reported that a young man who had ‘gravestone’ from a sea stack in Devon sparked a Coast Guard rescue after falling from the jagged cliff into the water and injuring his leg.
Several emergency services teams were sent to the Imperial Hotel on Peaked Tor Cove beach in Torquay around 3.30pm on Saturday after a man suffered leg injuries from jumping into the sea from a height.
At around 2pm, a group of 12 teenagers was filmed jumping off the vertical rock column one after the other.
Less than two hours later, HM Coastguard’s Torbay, Berryhead Coastguard Rescue Teams, Torbay RNLI Lifeboat, South West Ambulance Service and the Hazardous Area Response Team were dispatched to the incident.
The clip shows a large group of young people standing on the edge of the cliff before falling down.
Several emergency teams were dispatched to Peaked Tor Cove beach in Torquay around 3.30pm on Saturday after a man suffered leg injuries from jumping from a height into the sea. Less than two hours later, teens were filmed (pictured) stoning
A witness who made the video told… DevonLive: ‘It looked very dangerous. The sound when they hit the water was very loud. And some of them looked very close to the rocks on their way down.’
A spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said of the incident: ‘Today at approximately 3.30pm, the Torbay and Berryhead Coastguard Rescue Teams from HM Coastguard, the Torbay RNLI lifeboat, the South West Ambulance Service and HART were dispatched to a victim. to assist with suspected leg injuries on the Torquay coast.
“The victim was taken by lifeboat from a less accessible part of the beach and handed over to the ambulance service.”
Elsewhere, a woman was confined to a wheelchair for months after being dug into the River Lune from the 50-foot-tall Devil’s Bridge in Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria, last July.
Libbey Sinden, 22, ‘cracked’ her spine in a crash, had to relearn to walk and was confined to a wheelchair for four months. Alone in her swimsuit, she peered down “nervous” before the big fall and said hitting the water was “like hitting a brick wall.”
Ms Sinden, from Preston, Lancashire, has had her fall captured on video where she also appears to be struggling in the water shouting ‘My back hurts’.
The health worker then dragged herself to the water’s edge where she could do nothing but suffer for three and a half hours while the fire service, an ambulance and mountain rescue were called to assist her.
She was rushed to Preston Royal Hospital for a six-hour spinal surgery.
Ms Sinden now begs others not to copy her, as she warns of the dangers that jumping off bridges and cliffs into the water could “change their whole lives.”