AJ Hackett Bungy has "sincerely apologised'' to the customer who it says received "a fright'' when they fell unexpectedly from a jump pod on the 160m-high Nevis Swing.
The jumper had completed a tandem swing on Thursday and was back in the jump pod when the "swinger bar'' released, letting the customer fall and leaving them suspended about 1m from the pod, AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand managing director Henry van Asch said in a statement released last night.
The customer was harnessed and attached to safety lines at the time.
A crew member attached to safety lines was also knocked from the swing deck during the incident and was suspended at floor level before being hoisted back into the pod.
The "understandably distressed'' customer was quickly brought back into the pod and reassured they were safe, he said.
"While the customer received a fright - for which the company sincerely apologises - the customer was not at any time at risk of serious harm,'' Mr van Asch said.
The site was closed for the rest of the day and operations restarted only when the company was satisfied the same thing could not happen again.
It was the first time such an incident had happened and the team was satisfied that safety protocols worked, he said.
He did not respond to questions about what exactly had malfunctioned, or if any staff were stood down over the incident.
Mr van Asch said the company had spoken to Worksafe, which had confirmed it was not a notifiable injury or incident as there was no risk at any time of serious harm.
"We'd like to again extend our apologies to the customer involved and have made contact to check the customer was OK after the incident,'' Mr van Asch said.
