Best pix of the week
Here are some of the most arresting images of the last week.
A video has gone viral of an Italian model jumping out of a helicopter over Chile’s famous Villarrica volcano, hitting more than a million views in a couple of weeks.
The magazine model and daredevil Roberta Mancino took the plunge over the active volcano in March, wearing a wingsuit and protective gear to keep her safe from the heat emanating from the volcano.
Video footage shot from multiple GoPro cameras shows Mancino, 35, stepping out of the helicopter as dawn breaks before gracefully dropping into thin air.
For the next minute, we watch Mancino and her crew soar directly above the volcano, capturing footage of bubbling lava and gliding through a plume of sulfurous smoke.
- Next U.S. president to face friendlier Latin America as leftist regimes there recede
- Chilean fishermen struggle to stay financially afloat amid deadly ‘red tide’
- Head of corruption watchdog’s Chile office – named in ‘Panama Papers’ – resigns
- ‘Brexit’ could cause trade, territorial complications in Latin America for U.K., E.U.
- Chile wants U.S. to extradite 3 involved in dictatorship-era killing of U.N. diplomat
- Chile’s Calbuco volcano erupts for first time in 42 years
- Ash from Chilean volcano covers fields, towns
- Erupting Chilean Volcano A Fearsome Sight
Mancino is an experienced BASE jumper, wingsuit flier, and skydiver and the smoke doesn’t phase her as she eventually releases her parachute and glides safely to the base of the mountain.
This isn’t Mancino’s first major stunt, but it is one she has been dreaming of for a long time. Before the Villarrica jump, she spent years training for it.
In 2015, she traveled to Dubai and spent a few days leaping off the city’s Princess Tower, even recording herself giving her boyfriend a mid-air smooch.
Villarrica is one of Chile's most active volcanoes with the latest major eruption occurring last March that caused a loud explosion and forced the evacuation of 3,385 people in nearby communities.
Fun stories about food, relationships, the great outdoors and more.