Skydivers injured on training jump
Pair were carrying out ‘low turn at slow speed’ when accident happened.
Skydiving is not for the faint of heart – and even trained professionals can get seriously injured during a routine training exercise.
This was the case yesterday when two employees of NZone Skydive, which operates out of Queenstown, were involved in an accident near Drift Bay as they were coming in to land during a tandem jump.
They were taken to Dunedin Hospital where they were last night in a critical, but stable condition.
This is the third incident of its kind since 2015 involving NZone Skydiving employees.
The previous two incidents involved cameramen. A 36-year-old freefall cameraman suffered multiple injuries after crash landing during a solo jump in September 2015, three months after another cameraman was injured in a hard landing.
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) spokesman Mike Richards said officials would be on site tomorrow to review all the evidence gathered by police. This will include examining the parachute used during
Our immediate concerns are obviously for the wellbeing of the staff involved. Clark Scott of NZone Skydive
yesterday’s jump.
According to Richards, skydiving accidents were ‘‘rare’’.
NZone Skydive’s general manager in Queenstown Clark Scott confirmed that the accident occurred around 7:45am yesterday.
‘‘The incident happened in the final stages of a staff tandem training jump as they came in to land, performing a low turn at slow speed.
‘‘We’re trying to get to the bottom of what happened. Our immediate concerns are obviously for the wellbeing of the staff involved,’’ Scott said.
Initial police reports suggested the pair hit the ground at approximately 100km/h.
Scott declined to identify both employees, promising that the company would update the media ‘‘in due course’’.
St John spokesman Mark Tregoweth said ambulances took the skydivers to the Lakes District Hospital in Queenstown at about 9.10am before they were flown by helicopter to Dunedin Hospital.
Otago Regional Rescue Helicopter Trust managing director Graeme Gale said intensive care doctors and nurses joined paramedics on a flight from Dunedin at 8am.
‘‘[We took] the highest level of expertise through to Queenstown,’’ said Gale.
Although operations had been suspended at NZone Skydive yesterday, the company said it was likely it would resume day-to-day operations today.
WorkSafe New Zealand has been notified.