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Dean Potter dies in US jumping accident

The extreme athlete died attempting a wingsuit flight from a 2300 metre promontory at Yosemite National Park.

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Source: AAP


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Extreme athlete Dean Potter and another man have died in California BASE jumping accident.

A Yosemite National Park spokesman says Potter and Graham Hunt died on Saturday after attempting a wingsuit flight from a 2300 metre promontory called Taft Point.

A search-and-rescue mission began overnight when the jumpers' spotter lost contact with them.

Crews found their bodies Sunday in the Yosemite Valley. No parachutes had been deployed.

Potter, 43, is renowned for his bold and sometimes rogue climbs and BASE jumps, in which he would parachute from a fixed structure or cliff. He completed solo ascents and tightrope walks across some of the world's most famous rocks.

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BASE jumping is illegal in Yosemite.


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