A British base jumper has tragically died after his parachute reportedly failed to open during a jump in the Alps.
Dylan Roberts died in the horror accident in Italy on Friday, only a day after another adrenaline junkie died in a similar incident.
The 33-year-old experienced base jumper was with a group of five friends when he launched himself off of Mount Brento, from an 800m high ledge.
The spot is known locally as “Happy Birthday” and is one of the most popular destinations in the world for base jumping and sky divers.
Dylan, nicknamed 'English' within the base jumping community, jumped from it around 7am local time but friends said his parachute failed to open.
Onlookers said that he hit the side of the mountain on his way down and local police said it could have been down to an error in his trajectory.
His body was recovered by mountain rescue workers who reached the area by helicopter.
On the online base jumping forum BLINC, they described the run up to Dylan's tragic death. It said how he arrived in Brento three days before the fatal jump.
It continued: "When we got to the exit he lasered the exit with the intention of giving the numbers to another jumper, and remarked that the exit was bigger than he had thought it was.
"The wind was calm on exit. English was second to exit on a load of five jumpers. English had a stable exit. I watched his flight, and from the exit, his flight appeared to be slower.
" English flew far right over the terrain, and I lost sight of him. I heard a loud noise which I initially thought was a canopy, but I couldn’t spot him under canopy."
Dylan’s heartbroken brother shared an emotional tribute on Facebook. He wrote: “Heartbroken to announce that our beloved brother Dylan Roberts has passed away yesterday.
“He died doing what he loved, flying his wingsuit in the mountains in Italy. The only thing he loved more was his family and friends who he shared his life and adventures with.
“In the last few weeks we spent time together and he was the happiest he’s been in years, and excited to be living a full life again.
“He cared for his people so much and always had so much love to give. Words can’t express how lost we are without you Dylan, I love you so much. Rest easy in the skies our kid.”
Dylan had previously lost a close friend to a skydiving accident and reportedly suffered serious neck injury during a jump himself.
His friend Aiden Chaffe died in late 2018, and in a heartfelt tribute at the time, Dylan wrote: "We blew a daft kiss to each other before you jumped from the plane that final time and with that big daft smile of yours on your face!
"My last memory of you is of happiness and joy that we felt from the sport we shared but we also shared so much more.
"You made me smile in the darkest of times and were there for me always. You were a 'fiercely loyal' friend and it is rare to ever meet anyone like you.
"Life will never be the same... until I see you on the other side. I love you x".
According to BLINC Dylan had completed thousands of skydiving and base jumps before the accident.
He was a trained skydiving instructor and had worked with the British Parachute School, based in Langar Nottinghamshire.
His social media pages were full of photos of his favourite pastime, including describing being a skydive instructor as “the best job I ever had”.
In 2018, he wrote: “Some of the happiest memories I have are teaching people to skydive and see the pure happiness painted in the beaming smiles on their faces. I’ll always remember them by those happy moments in free fall.”
Sky Derby, a website which tracks recorded base jumps, shows that Dylan had performed a number of base jumps over the last few years across Italy and Switzerland.
This included the University of Leeds graduate having already jumped ‘Happy Birthday’ back in 2019.
Dylan’s tragic death came only a day after Matthew Glen Munting died in his own base jumping accident.
The Australian hit a gully after jumping off Mount Cimone, also in Italy, on Thursday morning.
The 35-year-old was also an immensely experienced base jumper with thousands of jumps under his belt.
At the time, he was reported to have been working as a base jumping instructor and living in Dubai, with his wife.
Search and rescue teams were sent out after he failed to return from his jump but bad weather interrupted their efforts.
When his body was eventually found, it was in an inaccessible gully between Mount Cimone and another mountain.
On Dylan's death, a Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who died in Italy, and are in contact with local authorities”
