Australian instructor saves base jump novice from accidentally leaping to his death

An Australian base jumping instructor has saved a beginner from leaping to his death after he failed to properly strap himself in to a parachute.

Chris 'Douggs' McDougall had just finished sending a class safely off a historic 110 metre-high bridge in Croatia when he spotted a novice teetering on the edge.

'Stop! Stop! Stop!,' he screamed, running towards the man with his hands up.

But the novice jumper completely misread the urgency in Chris McDougall's voice, instead asking him if his Go Pro was not turned on properly. Photo / Chris Mcdougall YouTube

The man had not bothered to put on his leg straps - meaning that when he activated the parachute he would have slid out of the harness and plummeted to his death.

But the novice jumper completely misread the urgency in McDougall's voice, instead asking him if his Go Pro was not turned on properly.

'F*** me, get the f*** back over the bridge. You've got no f***in' leg straps on you f***ing idiot,' McDougall replied tensely, grabbing a hold of the man's body.

'F***in' go home. Get off this f***ing bridge today. That's one of the most retarded f***ing things I've seen.'

'F***ing hell you owe me a beer.'

Seemingly oblivious to how close he was to dying, the man calmly climbed back over the bridge's barrier and said he would not be jumping.

But moments later he was back with his gear correctly attached to make the jump.

Reflecting on the near-death incident later, McDougall said he had caught the man within one second of jumping 'straight to his death.'

The man had not bothered to put on his leg straps - meaning that when he activated the parachute he would have slid out of the harness and plummeted to his death. Photo / Chris Mcdougall YouTube

'There's no way about it - if he was going to jump off that object he was going to die.'

'Thank god I was there because no one else picked it up. Fair enough - you don't look for people having no leg straps on.'

Base jumping is a sport that involves either parachuting or wingsuit flying from a fixed structure or cliff.

Due to the lower altitudes of the jumps, base jumping is considered to be significantly more dangerous than skydiving.