Sailendra Nath Roy dies while setting next world record

India, April 30 – Thrill-seeker Sailendra Nath Roy, the West Bengal Police home guard, who held a Guinness world record for travelling the farthest distance on a zip wire attached to a bunch of his hair, died while trying to set another record.

 

Sailendra Nath Roy, a 49-year-old police driver from India, was attempting to cross the turbulent River Teesta on Sunday in the state of West Bengal on a 180m wire above the water.

 

According to AFP – After attaching his shoulder-length hair to a pulley on the zip-line, Roy had completed about half of the distance when his pony-tail became entangled and he found himself unable to move.

After about 20 minutes, he became motionless and was eventually rescued by local people. No ambulance or a doctor was present during the performance, which was watched by his family.

 

"Preliminary investigations suggest that Roy suffered an heart attack caused by a nervous breakdown after remaining suspended for several minutes," said B.R. Satpathi who heads West Bengal state's medical services.

 

The results of a post-mortem are expected later Monday.

 

Roy, who was wearing a life-jacket over his shirt and carrying the Indian flag, achieved the Guinness World Record in 2011 after covering 82.5 metres on a zip wire while attached by his hair at a hotel in the desert state of Rajasthan.

 

Last year he used his pony-tail to drag an engine and four coaches of the heritage Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.