Football club pays tribute to crane jumper

The body of a man has been recovered from the water after he jumped over 30 metres from a floating crane in Wellington Harbour. Photo / Nichola Papatsoumas

A football club that a young Lower Hutt man, who jumped to his death from a crane at the weekend, played for has vowed to honour his memory by dedicating this season to him.

Jamie Gibbon, 20, dived from the top of the 45m Hikitia crane into the water at Wellington Harbour early on Sunday morning. It is believed he landed on his back, was knocked unconscious and sank to the seabed, where he was later found by search and rescue teams.

Mr Gibbon, known as 'Gibbo' to his friends, played for Petone Football Club, which posted a tribute to its website describing him as a "very well-liked young man", who loved his football and his friends.

"He will be very sadly missed by us all," club chairman Craig Deadman said in the post.

Mr Deadman said: "On behalf of the Petone Football Club, our deepest and heartfelt sympathy go out to Jamie's entire family, his parents in particular, and to all his friends and football family.

"To our 2nd and 3rd teams at Petone FC it will be a very difficult time over the next few weeks, especially as it is so close to the start of the season. But you can honour Jamie's memory by dedicating this season to Jamie, and playing with the passion and enjoyment that he showed in his time at our club."

Mr Gibbon, who is believed to have been an apprentice builder, was out with friends on Saturday night in Wellington prior to the fatal incident around 7am on Sunday.

"They've gone across to the waterfront, him and one other, and they've done a couple of jumps off the City-to-Sea Bridge into the lagoon, and then they've then proceeded into the Taranaki Wharf where he's decided to jump off the top boom of the crane after apparently seeing a clip the media released the week before," Sergeant Brett Cuzens of Wellington central police said, describing the incident as "a copy cat".

The top of the crane was 45m high - around 11 storeys - and the water below was calm and flat, Mr Cuzens said.

"So it's basically like landing on concrete. He's landed flat on his back, and I think it's basically knocked him out, and he's just sunk.

"His mate jumped in fully clothed and was swimming around trying to find him, and was still in the water when we got there."

Mr Gibbon's friend was "very traumatised" by what happened, Mr Cuzens said, and Victim Support were "heavily involved with him and the [Gibbon] family".

The incident should act as a warning to other people about the dangers of attempting to copy dare-devil antics popularised on social media, Mr Cuzens said.

"They should be thinking about the consequences of these things before actually doing it," he said. "Simply because someone else has done it before and got away with it, doesn't mean they will get away with it."

Last week, a video featuring a man jumping from the Hikitia crane became a hit online and sparked warnings from police. But Mr Cuzens said the current height of the Hikitia was higher than at the time that video was taken two years ago.

"But he's seen it and it's given people a challenge which they probably didn't need to be reminded of, because the consequences now for the family and for his mate that was with him is fairly tragic."

A death notice for Mr Gibbon asked for donations in lieu of flowers to be given to the Wellington Free Ambulance.