James E. Rawe, 24, Austin Carey, 22, critically injured, taken to hospital, after their parachutes fail to open properly in a BASE jumping accident off the Perrine Bridge in Twin Falls

A pair of BASE jumpers survived a 486-foot fall in southern Idaho Monday evening when their parachutes failed to fully open.

The men were seriously injured after leaping from Perrine Bridge in Twin Falls, Idaho, a Twin Falls County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman said. The bridge spans the Snake River canyon.

James E. Rawe, 24, of Draper, Utah, was taken by ambulance to St. Luke's Magic Valley Medical Center. Austin Carey, 22, was airlifted to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise with life-threatening injuries.

Rawe was listed in fair condition Tuesday, while Carey remained in serious condition.

Witnesses to the failed jump said Rawe was standing on the other man's shoulders when Carey apparently lost his balance and both fell from a bridge railing. Rawe struck his legs on the railing, and collided with Carey's parachute in midair, sending them both plummeting to the canyon floor.

The men hit the ground near the edge of the water, witnesses said. It's unclear if Rawe's parachute was deployed during the fall.

First-responders were able to reach the pair using search-and-rescue boats as a crowd of spectators gathered on the canyon rim to watch.

The botched jump came the same day a BASE jumper was found dead at the bottom of a cliff in Utah's Zion National Park. Another man was killed Friday in a failed BASE jump attempt near Moab, Utah.

BASE jumping is a popular sport involving participants who jump from cliffs, buildings or bridges, using a parachute to break their fall.

Some areas —including Zion National Park — ban the sport outright. But it's still legal to jump from Perrine Bridge, a feature that draws scores of adventure-seekers to southern Idaho every year.