Experience halts trading after NZ skydive mishap

THE adventure tourism company involved in a fatal skydiving tragedy at Mission Beach last October halted share trading yesterday after an instructor and his passenger crashlanded in a New Zealand lake.

A skydiving instructor was taken to hospital with minor injuries and another man was missing after the pair landed in Lake Wakatipu, near Queenstown in the nation’s south.

An investigation is underway into the cause of the failed jump, which occurred about 1.40pm local time.

The company involved, NZONE Skydive, is owned by Experience Co, which over the past 18 months has spent more than $100 million buying Far Northern tourism brands.

“The highly experienced instructor, who has completed thousands of jumps, was completing a tandem jump with a male customer when they landed in a body of water,” a NZONE spokesman said.

“One male is being treated at the Lakes District Hospital for minor injuries and is in a stable condition and the search continues for the other person.”

It comes three months after Experience Co, previously known as Skydive the Beach, temporarily suspended its Mission Beach skydiving operation after a triple-fatality.

Mission Beach woman Kerri Pike and two skydiving instructors, Toby Turner and Peter Dawson, died as a result of the October 13 collision, which left the town in shock.

In a statement, New Zealand’s Transport Accident Investigation Commission said an investigation had been opened.

“The commission’s inquiry will seek to explain the circumstances and causes of the accident with a view to helping prevent similar accidents in the future,” it said.

“The commission is unable to confirm further details of this afternoon’s events while the search and rescue operation continues.”