Kiwi does bungee plunge without rope

A New Zealand man went bungee jumping today – without the rope, police said.

The 30-year-old man, whose name was not released, leapt off a platform into the Waikato River on New Zealand’s central North Island after staff at the bungee had refused to let him jump, said Constable Tracey Haggart of Taupo police.

He then barged past the staff and dived 47 metres (154 feet) into the river.

The impact knocked him unconscious and he was rescued by the bungee jump staff before being flown to nearby Taupo hospital, Haggart said in a statement.

His condition was not immediately available.

Taupo is a tourist town 375 kilometres (233 miles) north of the capital, Wellington.

Haggart said police had no plans to charge the man, who had consumed “a small amount of alcohol.”