BASE trial jump proceeds as planned despite hazy conditions

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Jumpers unfazed by the hazy condition in Sibu.

SIBU: The BASE trial jump here proceeded as planned today despite the hazy conditions.

Sibu Resident Charles Siaw said masks were provided to the 13 jumpers.

The trial jumps were conducted from 8am until 1pm.

“At this point in time, operations room is not activated yet,” he said when contacted on the possibility of the trial jumps being called off should the Air Pollutant Index (API) reading breached the 200-mark.

API reading here touched 245 as of noon.

For the record, an API reading of 0 to 50 is considered healthy, 51-100 (moderate), 101-200 (unhealthy), 201-300 (very unhealthy), and 301 and above (hazardous).

Siaw previously said that the safety of BASE jumpers was of paramount importance and thus, the green light to jump off Sarawak’s tallest building – the 126m Wisma Sanyan here – would only be granted if weather condition permits.

This year’s edition kicked-off on Sept 13 at Dataran Tun Tuanku Bujang here, and would run until Sept 22, with the BASE jumping activities to commence this Sept 19.

The flag off ceremony would be on Friday (Sept 20), starting at 8am.

Sibu International BASE Jump made its debut in 2009.

The event is organised by Divisional Tourism Task Group (DTTG) Sibu with strategic partners comprising government agencies, private sector and NGOs.

BASE is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which a person can jump from namely Buildings, Antannae, Spans (bridge) and Earth (cliff).