Officials say Sailendra Nath Roy, 49, was halfway across the Teesta River in West Bengal when he suffered a massive heart attack and died. Last year, he used his ponytail to pull a train and four train cars. In that stunt, he covered 271 feet on a zip-line at the Neemrana Fort in India. Respected as an old school chopper builder, Larry sought greater acceptance of choppers being looked upon as an art form. But the alarm was raised after he did not appear after ten minutes.Still tied with the chain, his body then washed up roughly 1km from where he was submerged and was identified late last night.“He was a great stunt artist and this is a big loss for the Indian magic community,” said Madan Bharti, a historian of Indian magic.“If I can free myself it will be magic, if I cannot, it will be tragic,” he said ominously.In 1912, American-Hungarian illusionist Harry Houdini freed himself in just 57 seconds from a nailed and roped packing crate that had been lowered into New York’s East River.Over twenty years ago he lowered himself into its waters inside a glass box but managed to safely escape.Sumit Kharbanda, the president of the Indian Brotherhood of Magicians in Delhi, expressed his surprise at Mr Lahiri’s death, saying the stuntman was experienced.“He used to practice in swimming pools and rivers,” Mr Kharbanda said.“All magic has to be perfect and it takes a lot of practice, but even with practice things can go wrong. In 2007, he swung between two buildings with his ponytail tied to a rope. "We were proud of his bravery," Roy's younger brother, Benoy, told Sky News. Sailendra Nath Roy had an impressive daredevil history. Roy died on 28 April 2013, while trying to beat his own record of farthest distance travelled on a zip wire using hair.
He was trying to scream out some instruction," Balai Sutradhar, a photographer who was covering the stunt, Roy earned a Guinness World Record in 2011 for traveling the farthest distance along a zip-line using his hair. Chanchal Lahiri, 42, known by … Indian Larry (born Lawrence DeSmedt; April 28, 1949 – August 30, 2004) was a motorcycle builder and artist, stunt rider, and biker. Indian police have recovered the body of a magician who drowned when a Houdini-like stunt in a river went wrong. He was 49 years old.
(AP) An Indian stuntman attempting to break a world record by crossing a river on a zip-line -- while hanging by his ponytail -- died while performing the feat Sunday. Larry Desmedt, a New York-based custom motorcycle builder and biker better known nationally as Indian Larry, died on Monday in Charlotte, N.C., of injuries he suffered doing a stunt … Unfortunately, that became his last stunt." This was a very dangerous performance.“I don’t know if it was a breathing issue of just not being able to undo the locks.”We rely on advertising to help fund our award-winning journalism.We urge you to turn off your ad blocker for The Telegraph website so that you can continue to access our quality content in the future.Chanchal Lahiri, 41 – also known as the Wizard Mandrake – drowned in the Hooghly RiverLahiri failed to break free of the six locks and chain he had bound himself with Roy had no permission to do the stunt and had set up the zip-line earlier in the day.