Rishi Baveja stood on the edge of the rickety jungle rope bridge, looked at the 165ft drop below him, summoned up all his courage and leapt. Expecting the bungee rope tied around his legs to break his fall, onlookers were shocked to see it come loose and the Cambridge University graduate hit the surface of a murky Thai lagoon at 80mph.

Like many people fresh out of uni, Rishi went to Thailand for a month of island-hopping, full moon parties and extreme sports. Little did he know his trip would take him to the brink of death.

PURE ADRENALINE
'It was the end of my holiday and I’d already done more crazy stuff than you could think of – the day before, I’d zip-lined through a jungle. When I went to do the bungee jump in Kathu, the possibility of an accident didn’t even go through my head. I felt invincible,' says Rishi.

'Everything seemed fine,' the economics graduate remembers. 'The guy at the reception was friendly, the other jumpers who’d gone before me were happy. I got onto the platform and the instructors weighed me and put on my cord. We got to the top, where they told me to put my arms up and jump. They said it was now or never.'

Taking one last look around, Rishi did what he was told. The cliffs, the sky and the blue water of the lagoon rushed past Rishi’s face in a blur as cold air rippled up his body. For 10 seconds, it felt just like the buzz he had hoped for.

'The fall is just an insane rush. Pure adrenaline pumps through you. I didn’t even notice anything was wrong.'

Until he hit the water.

CERTAIN DEATH
Rishi was waiting for a sudden jerk on his ankles: the feeling of the rope reaching its elastic limit and beginning the pull that was meant to rescue him from the jaws of death. Only in his case, the pull never came.

'I felt this incredible impact. Suddenly, water was everywhere. All I could think was, ‘This is wrong – get to the surface, get to the surface!’'

Somehow, the knot around his ankles had worked loose and Rishi’s feet slipped out. Gravity pounded him chest-first into the surface of the water. It was as though he had been thrown off a bridge to his death.

'I remember being pulled out of the lake by the guy from reception and his face screaming into mine: ‘Come on, big man! Come on, strong man!’ Then I blacked out.'

Amazingly, Rishi had survived. By landing in the water on his chest rather than his head, he had avoided certain death – but not through any deliberate act on his part.

'Someone in a newspaper said it was down to my ‘quick thinking’, but that’s bollocks. I got lucky.'

Rishi’s battered body was transported to a Bangkok hospital, but his ordeal was far from over.

HORRIFIC INJURIES
'I woke up in hospital hours later and found eight tubes and a breathing machine attached to me. That’s when I realised it was serious. Both my lungs had collapsed. My liver had to be sewn up. My spleen had been taken out and put back in again as it was bleeding so much. I lost five pints of blood. The only thing that I didn’t do was break a bone. It turns out I’ve got ribs of steel, but organs of butter…'

Rishi’s parents were soon by his side, having flown from the UK fearing for his survival. They helped nurse injuries that surgeons compared to a near-fatal, head-on collision car crash.

'On top of everything, my whole body had swollen up. My mum and dad wouldn’t let me see myself for two weeks, but I could tell the swelling was bad because even my balls felt absolutely huge!'

Rishi’s recovery left him eight kilos lighter and badly scarred, but he says the experience was just as tough mentally as it was physically.

'Waking up in the hospital bed was the scariest moment of my entire life. All I could think was how stupid I’d been. But then I realised how selfish it would be of me to die when I had all my mates and family back home. I had to fight. I’d been a very lucky boy to survive.'

'I'LL DO IT AGAIN'
After four weeks of careful medical attention, Rishi was flown home to Wakefield, West Yorkshire. Now almost fully recovered, he says his ordeal has given him a whole new perspective on life.

'I’m not particularly religious, but I made a lot of deals with the big guy when I was lying there. I decided I’d try to achieve more with my life. At uni, I was well known for bumming around. Not now. I’m going to learn Italian, start playing the guitar – even set up my own business.'

As for the cowboys responsible for his nightmare, they’re still very much in operation – though Rishi says he has no hard feelings. In fact, he’s thinking about trying out bungee jumping again.

'No one wanted the accident to happen, and in fact, the guys at the centre helped save my life. Since it occurred, they’ve done a lot to improve their safety procedures. But I still haven’t actually bungee jumped yet – this was more of a belly-flop! Maybe I’ll get to the top next time and think ‘no chance’, but I’m not ruling it out. I just know I’ll be checking the rope five or six times before I jump. And I probably won’t be doing it in Thailand.'

Now watch the amazing video of the bungee on Rishi's website, www.bungeeboy.com