Video: Man leaps from tallest building; flees

Witnesses say a base jumper has safely parachuted from the European Union's tallest building, the Shard in London, and evaded police by jumping on the subway.

Passers-by captured the stunt on social media on Saturday. Video footage and photographs showed the man with a green chute deployed floating from the Shard onto a street near the London Bridge station.

They say the unidentified man folded his chute, handed it to an accomplice, and ran into the station minutes before police arrived.

Eyewitness Justin Knock said the jumper fled the scene within seconds of landing.

"I was buying some cheese from the store opposite St Thomas's Street and looked up and this guy was coming down with his parachute," he said.

"I saw him making his way down between the buildings and land, and then pack up his chute and bolt.

"It was obviously a dangerous thing to do but he pulled it off skilfully. He was coming down at speed and if he caught a draft and hit the building it would be game over really."

It's the first documented base jump since the 2012 completion of the Shard, a spire-shaped skyscraper that stands 95 stories and 310 metres high.

Base jumpers did film themselves leaping from the structure when it was still under construction. The finished building has no external rooftop viewing platform.

"We can confirm that we are investigating an incident involving a member of the public this morning. All parts of the building remain open," a spokeswoman for The Shard said.

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