The Daily Bastion

Henri Lefonte dreamed of drowning in a river

The town of Crans, Switzerland was left shocked by tragedy yesterday as a famous base-jumper and free-diving expert Henri Lefonte died of natural causes, and not as a result of a horrific stunt gone wrong. He was 58 years old.

Tributes poured in from friends and fellow daredevils. Close friend Louis ‘The Spike’ Ferand said, ‘To lose Henri in this way is so hard for all of us. It was always his dream to drown in a river, be mauled by a bear or crash into a mountain. It was just his time.’

Lefonte had seemed unbreakable back in February when he was dropped out of a plane inside a Honda Civic. He opened the vehicle’s door in mid-air and released his chute just in time, landing with a fall that caused a broken elbow and a bruised rib, but no lasting damage.

Lefonte gained notoriety with his ‘1000 rubber bands instead of a bungee-cord’ stunt, in which he lost both his testicles. A close friend revealed: ‘The rubber band accident could 
have been the violent, shocking and theatrical death that Henri deserved.’

The funeral will take place tomorrow off the coast of Spain. After the ceremony the body of Henri Lefonte will be dropped from an airplane
above the ocean and his friends will skydive with him on his final
 journey. ‘We want to remember him crashing into the ocean floor with his limbs being torn apart, not the way he died.’