Singaporean in skydiving tragedy afraid of heights, says family

Singapore: The Singaporean man who was killed in a skydiving accident near Sydney, Australia, last Saturday was adventurous but had a fear of heights, said his family.

Mario Low Ke Wei, 29, and his skydiving instructor Adrian Lloyd crashed onto the driveway of a property about 1km from the intended landing point in an open field, after a 4,200m-high dive operated by Sydney Skydivers.

Both men are believed to have died on impact.

Low’s sister, who is believed to be living in Luxembourg, told The Daily Telegraph that she hopes the police would find out the cause of the accident.

“I always thought a tandem jump is safe. We need closure,” she said. “What happened?”

In tandem skydiving, the student skydiver is connected to a harness that is attached to the instructor.

Low’s father Low Ah Buay told Shin Min Daily News: “He didn’t tell us that he was going skydiving, otherwise I would have stopped him.

“I still can’t believe the victim is my son. I don’t understand why he would go skydiving. He’s afraid of heights.”

A spokesman for Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it is “deeply saddened” by the accident.

He said the Singapore High Commission in Canberra is in contact with the family to provide consular assistance.

Meanwhile, Sydney Skydivers cancelled all jumps on Sunday, out of respect for the victims.

It said in a statement on Facebook that the incident was the first fatality involving a “first orientation tandem skydive”, and the instructor, Lloyd, who was in his 60s, had made over 10,000 jumps in his 30-year career.

Media reports said the firm had four other fatalities in the past 16 years.