'Irresponsible' - Man in Edinburgh 'parachutes' from 210ft-high Muirhouse tower block before hitting tree in night time stunt

A shocking video has emerged showing a man appearing to parachute off one of Edinburgh's tallest buildings.

The 45 second clip, which has been shared on social media, was apparently recorded from the 23-storey tower block in Martello Court in Muirhouse on Thursday night.

But the night time stunt has been branded "irresponsible" by community safety leaders today.

In the video, a man can be heard saying "right boys, have a good one" before counting down from three and jumping from the 210ft-high building and quickly releasing the parachute.

He then glides down and appears to hit a tree at the bottom and says "that's not good" followed by an outburst of profanities.

Councillor Mark Brown, Tory community safety spokesperson, described the man’s actions as "irresponsible.”

He said: "While there is a time and a place for these kinds of extreme sports, a tenement block in the middle of Muirhouse is not on that list of places.

"You don't want to be the fun police but there is a degree of responsibility that needs to be looked at and that is a fairly irresponsible thing to do.

"It would not be something one would recommend anybody to mimic, it's a bit of a ‘please do not try this at home’ scenario. While the video does not actually necessarily explain why he is doing it, the chap says it's 'not good' at the end and this suggests something went awry.”

Mr Brown added: "Parachuting from tenements is certainly not advisable and our already stretched emergency services don't need unnecessary injuries causing them to go out to detract from probably more serious incidents."

Police were contacted but said they were unaware of the incident being reported.

BASE Jumping

BASE jumping is the recreational sport of jumping from fixed objects, using a parachute to descend safely to the ground. The term stands for four categories of object from which people can jump – buildings, antenna, span and earth (cliff).

Last week, the Scottish Sun reported how Scots firefighter Harry O’Neill was disciplined by bosses who suspected he had leapt from the top of his 190ft Knightswood flats tower block in Glasgow.

It is thought he had used an emergency key fob to access the top of the building, something which residents have in case of a fire. However, it is believed he may have escaped the sack as bosses were unable to say for certain that it was him performing the base jump in CCTV footage.

In July last year, footage emerged of the moment a pair of base jumpers leapt from Salisbury Crags.

Veteran parachutists Hans Donner and Josh Beinn undertook the death-defying stunt on Armed Forces Day.

The dramatic video showed the pair hurtling towards the ground from the 151ft iconic landmark before skilfully landing in front of an adoring crowd.

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