Video captures the horror when a ski slope ride turned to nightmare It was supposed to be a thrilling ride down a ski slope inside a giant inflatable ball that will be one of the symbols of next year's Winter Olympics; it ended in tragedy for the two Russian men inside. The transparent plastic ball - known as a zorb - veered off course and flew over a rock ledge in the Caucasus mountains of southern Russia. The ball picked up speed as it flew down the steep slope, rolling and bouncing. One man was killed and the other badly injured. The man who died, Denis Burakov, 27, a father of two, was with friends at the Dombai ski resort, where they frequently went snowboarding, on 3 January when he decided to take a ride in a zorb being operated next to a beginners" slope. His friend Vladimir Shcherbakov, 33, joined him. An eight-minute video taken on Mr Burakov's phone by one of his friends shows the two men being fitted into harnesses inside the zorb, which consists of two polyurethane balls with a layer of air between them. The zorb is then released to roll down the hill, the two men spinning inside. But the zorb bounces off its intended path, and a man waiting for it at the bottom of the hill tries in vain to catch it before it pops over a ledge and disappears down a gorge below Mount Mussa-Achitara. The person filming the video is heard swearing and asking "What's down there?" The answer comes from someone off camera: "It's a catastrophe down there." Emergency services said both men were ejected from the zorb as it tumbled and they landed on the snow about 30 feet apart after having rolled about a mile. Still conscious and able to stand, they were rescued by two skiers, who then towed them up to the top of the hill. Mr Burakov suffered serious spinal injuries and died on the way to the hospital. Mr Shcherbakov suffered a concussion and other injuries and remains in hospital. The incident has prompted an urgent review of safety rules for winter sports by Russia's emergencies minister. Vladimir Puchkov told leading officials in a televised meeting that they must tighten up regulations on the ski slopes. Sergei Loginov, deputy director of Z-orb.ru, the largest supplier of zorbs in Russia, said the zorbing run that killed Mr Burakov breached all the existing rules. Zorbing requires a groomed gentle slope with fences on both sides of the track and a secure spot at the bottom where the ball can be safely brought to rest, he said, but none of this was present at Dombai. It's not even irresponsibility. It's an experiment on life," Mr Loginov said. It's all or nothing. They either survive or they don't. The sport originated in the 1990s in New Zealand and is now done around the world, though typically on grassy slopes. Mr Loginov said there are several zorbing spots on the outskirts of Moscow and dozens more elsewhere in Russia. Zorbs have been adopted as a symbol of the 2014 Winter Olympics, which Russia is holding in Sochi. Sochi's modern ski resorts also are in the Caucasuses. Dombai and other less-developed resorts are located to the east in the North Caucasus region, a patchwork of mainly Muslim republics suffering from poverty and unrest stemming from an Islamic insurgency. "Until 2006, hundreds of people died every year at the North Caucasus ski resorts," said Kantemir Davydov, an emergencies ministry spokesman in southern Russia. That number has fallen sharply, but still on average 20 to 30 tourists die every year. The causes of the deaths are various, but the root is the same: There is no clear system assuring tourism safety. The New Zealand company which manufactures Zorbs said the sphere and ride involved did not feature its products and operated contrary to its rules on safe practice.