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Update August 03: Tombstoning, So Named Because Of The High Level Of Fatalities Claims Another Victim

by infomatique | July 8, 2007 at 09:10 am

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UPDATE: Friday August 03, 2007

Coastguards have found the body of a 16-year-old boy who they believe died after "tombstoning" at Minehead Harbour in Somerset. The body was found in the early hours when the tide ebbed.

It is believed that the teenager is the latest victim of the "tombstoning" craze.

A Coastguard spokesman said: "We know he jumped into the harbour off the harbour wall and that he swam for a short distance, then all of a sudden was crying for help and then apparently sank like a sack of potatoes."

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A man has died and a second is in intensive care after they leapt off a pier into the North Sea.

The men are the latest victims of a craze called tombstoning where people jump off cliffs or structures into the sea.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has issued several warnings that the activity is deadly.

Thames Coastguard was called after five middle aged men jumped off Clacton Pier, Essex.

Two men were reported to be unconscious in the water.

A rescue helicopter landed on the beach and airlifted the two men.

tombstoning' - diving off rocks and cliff faces into a body of water such as a lake, pond, the ocean, etc. The term 'tombstoning' is more commonly used in the UK and Europe than in North America.

Tombstoning, so named because of the high level of fatalities and serious injuries, has grown in popularity around the British coast. In Devon and Cornwall, where the craze has caught on among both residents and holidaymakers, emergency services, including coastguards and RNLI lifeboats, deal with an average of one cliff jumping rescue a week during the summer. A spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in the UK, said: "We are seeing more and more cases as a result of tombstoning around the coast and we are very worried about it as a phenomenon. "The risk is that just below the surface of what looks like deep water is a rock waiting to break any jumper's fall. It is the equivalent of jumping off a tall building on to a wet flannel."

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Jordan Yerman

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 09:40 on July 8th, 2007

I've never heard the term "tombstoning" before, though I'm familiar with cliff-diving. Such an activity is inherently dangerous, especially if the diver isn't familiar with the space below the water. This is particularly true in developed areas, where man-made structures and dumpage create deadly protrusions.

infomatique

at 13:41 on July 8th, 2007

I first heard the term a few days ago. I always thought that the term was related to surfing.

denseatoms

at 20:29 on July 8th, 2007

We have plenty of bridges here in the South Carolina Lowcountry, to bridge our sea islands. They all have signs warning people not to dive into the "inviting" waters. Tombstoners here risk a virtual self-keelhauling on the razor-sharp oyster shells -- not to mention the man-made junk jordan mentions. Bad news. The worst craze since Russian Roulette.