There’s nothing quite like the feeling of wind rushing through your hair as you sail high above the ground. 

For just a few minutes, ziplines offer people the chance to understand what it means to be free, soaring through the air as birds do. 

But this transcendental experience can quickly take a turn for the worse. 

Ill-fitting harnesses, poor safety checks or plain old rotten luck can lead to severe mishaps that put lives at risk. 

Here, MailOnline looks at the close shaves people have had with ziplines.  

Moment boy crashes into lake after zip line harness breaks in Mexico

An adult male can be seen sliding up next to the child and guiding him along the way when the safety belt suddenly snaps

The man comes to a full stop and several people in the background scream before the recording ends

This frightening 2023 incident was caught on video by the then-six-year-old César Moreno’s family and shows zip lining 40 feet above the artificial lake at Amazonian Expedition in Fundidora Park in Mexico’s Nuevo Leon region. 

An adult male can be seen sliding up next to Moreno and guiding him along the way when the safety belt suddenly snaps.

The man comes to a full stop and several people in the background scream before the recording ends.

Local cops said at the time that César did not suffer any injuries, and was able to walk out with his family after being checked over by paramedics. 

But the boy’s sister, Nataly Moreno, revealed on Facebook that a Good Samaritan jumped into the lake to save her little brother from going under and nearly drowned while doing so.

But her brother and boyfriend rushed into the lake and brought them to safety.

She alleged that Fundidora Park did not have the necessary staff in attendance to rescue her brother and the man who attempted to help him.

‘The park does not have people trained for this type of situation, none were there to help get him out of the water,’ Nataly Moreno said. ‘Terrible park, it’s incredible how disastrous things can happen in the blink of an eye. I only thank God that my Cesar is well.’

Horrifying moment 10-year-old boy falls 20 feet from zip line  

The ride takes him around one curvature while his legs are seen dangling

Seconds later, a dip in the ride causes the boy to lose his grip on the harness, which was reportedly not properly secured

Horrifying surveillance footage of the September 2019 incident shows the boy holding on to a harness of the ‘Sky Rider’ at the Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park in Lakeland, Florida. 

The ride takes him around one curvature while his legs are seen dangling.

Seconds later, a dip in the ride causes the boy to lose his grip on the harness, which was reportedly not properly secured.  

He is then seen crashing down to the concrete floor of the indoor ride as several people, including employees, rush over to check on him.

The boy, who survived the ordeal, was motionless as a woman, believed to be his relative, is seen kneeling over him.

According to a lawsuit filed by the boy’s family, the incident was a result of operator error. The suit also says that the boy fell ‘more than 20 feet’ and suffered ‘significant injuries’.

The victim has recovered from his injuries and is now back in school.

Tourist left hanging in midair after zip line stops working

Shocking footage shows the girl trying to rock back and forth to move along the zipline cable, with her inching forward very slowly on the Flying Fox zipline on Nusa Penida

Shocking footage shows the girl trying to rock back and forth to move along the zipline cable, with her inching forward very slowly on the Flying Fox zipline on Nusa Penida, a small island located near the southeastern Indonesian island of Bali.

Meanwhile the girl’s terrified and reportedly crying mother, alongside several British tourists, watched on in horror from below as the girl is hanging 330ft over the ocean.  

Nusa Penida’s police chief told local media shortly after the 2024 incident that the ‘foreign child’ was stuck on the zipline for about three minutes before she managed to rock herself to the other side. The girl was not injured.

‘The opposing wind direction and light body [didn’t] make the roller move,’ he added.

Child runs into sloth while zip lining through Costa Rican rainforest 

The boy, who has not been named, was zooming through the forest canopy with a guide at Go.Adventure Arenal Park, which is on the slopes of Arenal Volcano, when he bumped into the unexpected obstruction

The boy is going so fast he is unable to slow down before he hits the animal, which brings him to an abrupt stop

The child can be heard saying ‘I just clocked it straight in the face’ after the head-on collision

The boy, who has not been named, was zooming through the forest canopy with a guide at Go.Adventure Arenal Park, which is on the slopes of Arenal Volcano, when he bumped into the unexpected obstruction in March 2022. 

In video taken by the guide, the child can be seen colliding head-on with the slow-moving animal, which had somehow managed to climb from the trees onto the zip wire.

In the footage the man can be heard telling the child ‘no brake’ at as they set off on the ride. 

They quickly pick up speed before the sloth comes into view.

The boy is going so fast he is unable to slow down before he hits the animal, which brings him to an abrupt stop.

The child can be heard saying ‘I just clocked it straight in the face’ after the head-on collision.

After a moment to gather their bearings the guide untangles the boy and the sloth and the furry animal begins to walk down the line, even appearing to wave at the pair as it goes.

Worrying moment rope wraps woman’s neck at Eden Project ride 

Claire Hatch, 37, had taken her family to the Cornwall attraction to celebrate the 13th birthday of daughter Madi in August 2016 and took her son on the Gravity Swing

But a rope she claims was not attached properly became wrapped around her neck as she rode the zipwire, then leaving her suspended in the air

Claire Hatch, 37, had taken her family to the Cornwall attraction to celebrate the 13th birthday of daughter Madi in August 2016 and took her son on the Gravity Swing, which sends thrill-seekers plunging from a height of 65ft. 

But a rope she claims was not attached properly became wrapped around her neck as she rode the zipwire, then leaving her suspended in the air. 

She then had to wait 45 minutes for an on-site paramedic – and then as long again for an ambulance – before being freed from the ride and going to hospital for treatment.  

Writing on Facebook at the time, she said: ‘The one girl on her own supervising the swing, whose job it was to make sure everything was safe, forgot to tie back one of the ropes.

‘So as we swung back down for the second time the rope caught around my neck. It was only me being yanked backwards that saved me from being very seriously hurt, or worse.’

She added: ‘I was told by a member of staff that a paramedic was on site and would be there very quickly. Forty five minutes later a man wearing a uniform in a paramedic car arrived. 

‘After he began examining me without putting gloves on first, then putting the wipes with blood on into the staff room bin, it was questioned if he was actually medically trained.

‘He rudely told us that he was a retired paramedic and that everyone calls him a paramedic because that’s how they’ve always known him and that’s what it says on his car.

‘Over an hour and a half after I was taken off of the swing, an ambulance was called and I was taken straight to hospital.

Horrific moment trainee firefighter falls after zip wire snaps  

Frightening video footage captured the moment a fire department cadet suffered a 19-foot ball after his zipline cable broke and sent him crashing to the street

He started to descend on the zip line and other cadets in the background cheered him on before the cable suddenly split

Frightening video footage captured the moment a fire department cadet suffered a 19-foot ball after his zipline cable broke and sent him crashing to the street during a voluntary training exercise in Brazil in February 2024. 

The man, whose name has not been released, could be seen on the video wearing a safety harness around his waist as he received instructions while he climbed out of a window of a building in Brasilia, the nation’s capital.

The victim the stood on the ledge and supported himself by placing his hands over the base of the window.

He started to descend on the zip line and other cadets in the background cheered him on before the cable suddenly split. 

The man fell face first into street below and lay motionless before the video recording abruptly came to an end. 

The cadet received medical aid on the scene from his classmates and was rushed to a local hospital where he was treated for arm and rib pain and a head gash, according to Brazilian news outlet G1.