Rope was too long in American's fatal bungee jump, Swiss police say

BERN, Switzerland - An American killed when he slammed into the ground during a bungee jump had been tied to an elastic rope that was too long, officials said yesterday.

Matthew Coleman, 22, of Walkersville, Md., died Saturday during the jump in the Swiss Alps.

The jump was organized by Adventure World, the same company that ran a canyon expedition in central Switzerland last summer in which a flash flood killed 21 people.

State police in Bern and the investigating judge said the two guides who supervised the jump from a gondola on a cable car were being investigated on suspicion of negligent homicide. Neither was involved in the canyon case, police said.

It was clear from a photograph of the jump that the guides had attached a cable marked in red that is meant for jumps from higher points. Each jump from the gondola is photographed, police said.

A second rope, marked in green, is also carried in the gondola and is meant for the lower jumps, the statement said.

Coleman was the first in his group of seven to jump from the gondola, police said. The car stops in two places, one 330 feet above ground and one 590 feet above ground. He jumped from the lower stop.

Coleman hit the ground next to the parking lot of the cable-car ground station and died instantly.

Adventure World said Saturday it had stopped all activities immediately because of the death.

The daily Blick reported that four of the seven people in the group were friends of Coleman and that the accident occurred on the next-to-last day of their European tour. The group was given psychological counseling, police said.