The last time I was in the Bosnian and Herzegovinian city of Mostar I stood on the gravel stones beneath the shallow river that winds it's way underneath the Stari Most bridge and watched a 19-year-old Saudi Arabian man jump to his death.

It wasn't a suicide. The Stari Most - an ancient (but rebuilt) link between the ethnic Croatian and Bosnian areas of this painfully divided city - is now less a symbol of Ottoman-era supremacy and more a dangerous tourist trap.

It's said to become a man, local boys must first jump from the 25-metre high arch into the piercingly cold, rapid water below. But not only locals attempt the dive - ill-equipped, overly confident tourists also plunge themselves off the bridge.

This 19-year-old was one of them.

When jumping from a great height, nearly 15 metres higher than the practice jump further down stream, it becomes very difficult to control the movement of your arms and you begin to desperately claw at the air around you.

Likewise, the angle of your feet and pin-drop positioning of your body, take much practice to master. Water can shatter bones like glass from heights like these.

Australia's Rhiannan Iffland, who just took out the Red Bull Cliff Diving Series for the sixth consecutive year, had years of expertise.

She also had a plethora of trained medical staff surrounding the river's base, and the jump was only scheduled on a day where the river's height and weather conditions were optimal for divers.

The Saudi man, like most tourists who embark this jump, do not have that luxury.

At best, they'll have a small raft with two-untrained organisers - the ones who take your money - waiting for you to emerge from the water.