Ponytail Stunt Death Shocks Onlookers; Sailendra Nath Roy Gets Stuck on Zip-Line (VIDEO)
A world record holding stunt man died performing a dangerous zip-line stunt over a raging river in south East Asia.
Daredevil Sailendra Nath Roy, who also happened to be a 49-year-old police driver from India, held the Guinness World Record for longest distance travelled on a zip-line while hanging by his hair.
Roy was performing a stunt that would have him cross on a zip-line attached only by his ponytail nearly 600 ft. up in the air.
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Roy's ill-fated attempt took him the state of West Bengal and over the raging River Teesta on Sunday but died after becoming stuck midway through.
Roy attached himself to the zip-line using only his shoulder-length hair tied in a ponytail and had passed about half way across the line when his hair became entangled in the pulley and was unable to move, as reported by AFP.
"Roy tried frantically to get hold of a second rope to reach the finishing point," senior local police officer K. Jayaraman told AFP.
Nearly 30 minutes passed before horrified spectators noticed Roy's motionless body which was eventually rescued by the people that had been there to cheer him on. There was no emergency personal nor was there an emergency vehicle.
Roy was taken to a hospital in Siliguri, about 300 miles away, where doctors suggested he had died of a heart attack.
"Preliminary investigations suggest that Roy suffered an heart attack caused by a nervous breakdown after remaining suspended for several minutes," B.R. Satpathi, head of West Bengal state's medical services, said in a statement.
Results from the autopsy are expected in the coming weeks.
"We were proud of his bravery. He was sure to win but destiny has taken his life and the most beloved member of our family as well," Roy's younger brother Benoy, who was in attendance, told AFP.
