Erin Langworthy, took the 111-metre jump from the Victoria Falls bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe on New Year’s Eve while on holiday.
But half-way through the jump, the cord snapped, sending Langworthy into the water with her feet still tied, before she was swept towards rapids.
The 22-year-old from Perth said: “It went black straight away and I felt like I’d been slapped all over.”
“As I went deeper down, the water got colder and it must have snapped me out of it.”
“It’s like being in waves, you get sucked under and then you pop up so it’s very disorienting, I didn’t know which was up or down.”
The bungee cord was caught on rocks below and Langworthy was forced to swim down and pull herself free before making it to the surface.
She managed to swim to the Zimbabwe side of the river and hauled herself out.
She said: “When I was first pulled out of the water, they put me on my back. But all the water I’d inhaled meant I couldn’t breathe.
“So I made them roll me on to my side and that’s when I started coughing out water and blood.”
After suffering massive bruising and a fractured collar bone. Langworthy said: “I think it’s a miracle that I survived.”
The jump was caught on video and shows the rope snap over the river.
A woman yells: “She’s in the fucking water!”
