Several of the world's top BASE jumpers showcased their remarkable courage and technique during the May Day holiday by flying through the Tiansheng Sanqiao, a series of limestone bridges in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. It's a new challenge for extreme athletes in this field.

Five of the six skydivers came from the U.S., with the remaining athlete from Brazil. They were required to jump from a platform at an altitude of about 280 meters within the World Natural Heritage site and pass through a natural arch of bridge less than 30 meters wide. 

Two of them completed the mission by flying through the big cave, a process that was completed in about 10 seconds. One flyer dropped due to unstable airflow, while another three participants still finished the jump, but they landed before passing through the cave.

As one of the world's most dangerous sports, BASE jumping requires the participants to jump from a fixed structure or cliff using a parachute or wingsuit. BASE is an acronym for four categories of fixed objects – building, antenna, span and earth (or cliff). Due to the high difficulty, there are only about 1,000 practitioners of this exciting sport around the world, and only about 50 of them are listed as being in the top level.

This is the first time that BASE jumpers tried to pass through the karst caves in China.

Sheng Guangqiang, a well-known Chinese wingsuit flyer in charge of this event, said the protruding rocks in the cave was one of the biggest challenges for the jumpers, who needed to accurately control the parachute-deployment altitude and their posture in entering the cave. Additionally, the disordered airflow also increases the difficulty level of the task.

BASE jumping is becoming increasingly popular in China. Top-level wingsuit flying competitions have been held across China in the past few years.

Xu Kai, President of the Beijing-based Wings for Love company specialized in organizing such events, told CGTN earlier that he believed the sport will develop more quickly in China due to its natural advantages, referring to the many locations for jumpers to challenge themselves with.

One day earlier, the six athletes flew through an ancient town in Chongqing wearing a wingsuit.

(Cover:  A challenger jumps off a platform at an altitude of some 280 meters. /Courtesy of Wings for Love)