A British man has died while base jumping in the Italian alps. 

The man, named as Robert Haggarty, was wearing a wingsuit for the jump, but hit the mountainside before crashing down to a ledge 600ft below.

The 47-year-old was with a group of 25 on the 9,500ft Busazza mountain in the Dolomites, north of Venice, when the accident happened. 

The alarm was raised when he was spotted getting in to difficulty with his parachute. He is thought to have died instantly upon impact. 

A helicopter reached the area and sent down three technicians who recovered his body, repubblica.it reports.

A police spokesman told The Sun: “We were alerted by several witnesses who had seen the man get into trouble.

“One theory we are looking at is that he didn’t time his take-off well and was too close to the side of the mountain.

“His body was recovered by a three-strong team and that was also a very difficult operation which involved lowering the body by harness 160ft.”

A foreign office spokeswoman said: “We are providing advice and support to the family of a British man following his death in Italy, and are in contact with the Italian authorities.”

Last year an Austrian surgeon, 47, died base jumping in the Dolomites.