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Police hunt for camera of dead BASE jumper

A missing camera attached to the helmet of a NSW base jumper who died in Victoria may hold vital clues to his death.

Emergency services were called to an accident near the Omega tower, a 432m structure at Giffard, about 200km east of Melbourne, just before 2.30pm (AEDT) on Saturday.

Police believe a helmet was removed from the body of the 23-year-old man before emergency services arrived and are appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

A mount for a camera was attached to the helmet but the camera was not located at the scene, police said.

Police say the deceased man may have been with other people before he died, however there was no one else at the scene when they arrived.

“If a camera was used, investigators are keen to locate it as it may have information critical to the investigation,” a police spokesperson said.

The Omega tower is a well known site for illegal base jumping, an activity where people jump from fixed objects and use a parachute to break their fall.

Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullens said ground crews and a helicopter were dispatched but the man was difficult to access.

“It came through as a base jump man in his 20s believed to be deceased,” he said.

Emergency services workers had to be directed to the site by people who had been with the man, Mr Mullens told AAP.

“It took a little while to get in,” he said.

“He was deceased.”

Police described the death as a “parachute incident”.

Mr Mullens said he believed the Omega tower, a navigation antenna and transmitter, was a base jump site.

The Omega tower is the tallest structure in Australia, more than 100m higher than the Q1 Tower on the Gold Coast and Sydney Tower.

BASE is an acronym for building, antenna, span (bridge), and earth (cliffs) – the four places where jumpers launch from.

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