THE FAMILY of an extreme sports enthusiast who died in an accident in Switzerland have been ‘overwhelmed’ at the number of people who want to help bring his body home.
Mark Hart, 44, was on a BASE jumping holiday with friends in the village of Murren, Switzerland, when he had an accident jumping from a cliff on Sunday afternoon.
Due to the circumstances in which Mark died, his travel insurance does not cover his repatriation to the UK, and so his family are raising funds to bring him home and support his three-year-old twin daughters, Megan and Bethany, and fiance, Anna Baker.
More than £18,000 has already been raised on an online fundraising site.
Mark’s mother, Margaret, 69, said: “There are people texting me to say how wonderful and how helpful he was.
“There are donations coming from family and friends, but there are so many anonymous people helping us.
“One person put in £1,000. The generosity is unbelievable, all these people trying to help bring my son home. I can’t express how much it means to me, I’m overwhelmed.”
Details of the accident, which occurred at around 2.30pm, are still to be confirmed, but it is believed that Mark had a fault with his parachute when he jumped from a cliff in the Bernese Highlands.
Margaret, of Bar Lane, Staincross, said: “We have no real idea of what happened. His jump must have gone wrong and he hit the side of the mountain.
“We know it was in a place where they couldn’t get to him and they had to get the helicopter out to rescue him.”
Swiss police are currently investigating.
BASE jumping is a sport which involves jumping from buildings or cliffs with a parachute or wingsuit.
Mark, who proposed to his fiance from the top of a crane in Blackpool, regularly took part in extreme sports, and won the British Snowboarding Championship seven times.
Margaret said: “He was an adrenaline junkie, he was so energetic. He did gymnastics, rock climbing, and was a champion snowboarder in his younger days. He’s been a daredevil all his life.
“It’s what he lived for, from being a small boy. He even took his girls rock climbing with him, and he took them swimming.”
Margaret said her son, who legally changed his middle name to Dangerous by deed poll, would ‘laugh any kind of danger off.’
“He used to dye his hair green because he said if he got stuck in the snow people could find him,” his mum said.
“That’s the kind of person he was, he was just a wonderful lad.”
Mark, who worked as a joiner, was born in Hanover in 1974 as his father was serving in the army there.
The family spent two years in Berlin, before moving to Thurgoland in 1985.
After Margaret and Mark’s father separated, he lived in Darton with his mother and two brothers, Andrew and Hadrian.
Mark, who turned 44 on August 15, moved to Sheffield when he met Anna.
A GoFundMe page has been set up by Mark’s family to raise money to bring him back.
In just one day, the page raised £17,000 in donations from friends, family and anonymous donors.
A message on the page, set up by Mark’s niece Emily Goodyear, states: “Money is never a issue when it comes to family, especially when it’s something as urgent as this but we are desperate to bring him home and for him to be at peace properly so any help at all, whether it’s a pound or a penny, will go such a long way and we will all be well and truly grateful for it.
“Not only will this money go towards getting him home but will also go towards supporting Anna and his children whilst they go through the worst of heartbreaks.”
Donations can be made here.
Mark’s family have requested privacy but have expressed their gratitude at the donations and messages of sympathy they have received.
