Ammon News - First person to do so in the world
Iraqi jumps from North Pole’s highest point


DUBAI (Abdul Hadi Torafi)

Farid Lafta, an Iraqi qualified astronaut, was the first person to jump to the the North Pole's highest tip in a message to promote peace and love.

In a Russian-German mission that included 135 scientists from different 22 countries Lafta journeyed to the North Pole gliding on the Russian nuclear ship “Fifty Years of victory”, only to score a title as the Brave Hercules when he jumped 3000 feet from the North Pole's 90 degrees latitude or the earth's most epitome point on 29 July, 2010.

“I am in the process filling the application to record my jump as the first of its kind in the Guinness World Record book,” Farid Lafta said.

Brave Hercules sits besides his other titles, as Iraqis call him the Iraqi Eagle, the Western media names him Superman, and the Russians along with the Arab media call him him after the famous Russian astronaut, Yuri Gargarin, for the short record time similar to Gargarin, Lafta spent to acquire his astronaut qualifications.

Lafta did not only represent his country of origin, but before his journey he received two letters from the Asian Union for Parachute Jumping and the Arab Federation of Air Sports to represent them.

“I represented Iraq, the Arabs and Asia with my jump, and with their names I wrote a message of love and peace,” Lafta added.
Lafta also put his message along with other letters of the mission’s members in a cylinder to be buried down under 4622 meters in the North Pole’s ocean’s floor.

“The cylinder is a type that is used in nuclear plants, and it can resist all type of conditions whether it is water, high salinity, volcanic high temperatures, and hard rocks. It will stay for millions of years in the bottom of the ocean,” he said.


Moment of confrontation

At the moment when Lafta had to make his jump, visibility did not exceed 500 meters, and there were big risks such as water patches gushing from the groundless but water-iced floor of the North Pole.

“If I fell in any of these water patches I would have instantly turned into a frozen ice cube and sink in the bottom of the ocean with none of my mission’s friends able to come and save me.”

Also, dangerous arctic bears hovering around the nuclear Russian ship did not make the task easy, as none of the mission’s members would be speedy enough to save him if he fell under the clouts of any of the arctic bears.

Lafta found it very hard time to convince the ship’s captain and the missions’ leader of his high-risk endeavor, his death would taint the captain’s reputation and the mission’s if bad calamity to take place after his dangerous jump.

“When the helicopter carried me, sadness and desperation overwhelmed the mission, and no one was smiling, and I started to tease them to lift their spirit.

“They were looking at me as If I will die after seconds; I had to remind the doctor who was feeling very sad for me to take my heartbeat check before decamping.”

It is not the first time Lafta took a leap of faith in himself to jump for peace; he previously jumped from his country’s skies to promote love and peace.

“We would love to live in peace in our country, even for a little while, at least we need the warrior break,” he said.

Lafta left Iraq when militias kidnapped his brother and wounded him in the leg while he was trying to save his brother.

His aspiration is to concentrate on humanitarian activities; he previously organized a campaign “Blood for Iraq” for volunteers to donate blood for the Iraqi war victims.

When asked about the South Pole, Lafta said “There were two Americans that tried to jump from the highest point from the South Pole and died, and jumping from the South Pole’s highest p point is on my to-do list.”


(Translated from Arabic by Dina al-Shibeeb)

* Al Arabiya

** Photo: Farid Lafta is the first person in the world to jump 3000 feet to North Pole's most central tip (File)