Skydiver lost in lake plunge
Huge search fails to find man missing after tandem jump goes wrong in Queenstown
Acommercial skydiving firm has suspended operations as rescuers seek a passenger who plunged into Lake Wakatipu during a tandem jump. More than 20 rescue vessels and aircraft scoured the Queenstown lake for the man yesterday afternoon.
The skydive took a tragic twist after a possible parachute malfunction left two men stranded in the cold and windswept waters of New Zealand’s third largest lake.
The incident involved Queenstown skydiving company Nzone.
The instructor, or tandem master, was rescued and taken to Lakes District Hospital with minor injuries.
He was in a stable condition last night, according to Nzone. The passenger was still missing last night.
Emergency services were called at 1.42pm with a report that two skydivers had landed in the lake near Jack’s Point settlement.
Several jet skis and planes, 11 boats, the Coastguard, water taxis, helicopters and other emergency services all battled against the windy conditions in a bid to find the skydiver, but rescue attempts were suspended at 6.30pm, after the missing man had been in the water for several hours.
Police have said they will assess the situation this morning, but the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) has opened an inquiry into the accident and is expected to arrive on scene today.
TAIC said its inquiry will seek to explain the circumstances and causes of the accident, with a view to helping prevent similar accidents in the future.
“It is tracking the continuing search and rescue operation, and deploying two investigators, expected to arrive on the scene as soon as practicable on Thursday,” the commission said.
“The circumstances reported are that during a commercial tandem skydive, where the passenger is attached to a ‘tandem master’, a possible malfunction of the parachute has resulted in the pair entering Lake Wakatipu.”
It said it was unable to confirm further details while the search and rescue operation continued.
WorkSafe and the Civil Aviation Authority have also been notified.
A CAA spokeswoman said it was yet to decide if it would investigate.
Nzone Skydive said skydiving operations had been suspended while the search was conducted.
“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,” an Nzone statement 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.”
The company also made headlines in January last year after two of its instructors were seriously injured during a tandem training flight.
Sasa Jojic and Sasa Ljaskevic, both originally from Serbia, were hospitalised after performing a “dangerous” manoeuvre.
The pair hit the ground at Drift Bay, south of Jack’s Point, at high speed and suffered serious injuries from the impact of their landing.
The CAA and WorkSafe also investigated that incident.
It is not known if either of these men was involved in yesterday’s accident. Andrea Rush.
Despite the slowdown in sales, property values continued to rise, although at a slower rate than in previous years.
In Auckland, average house prices increased just 0.4 per cent or $4583 for the year to $1.05 million.
Of the suburbs, Auckland City — Islands saw the biggest growth increase with the Waiheke market driving growth that was up 13.7 per cent for the year, and 6.6 per cent over the final quarter.
Nationwide, average residential property values increased by 6.6 per cent or $41,660 over the year, with the average house price $669,565 in December.
Rush said the slowing in growth was due to new Loan to Value Ratio (LVR) restrictions requiring a 40 per cent deposit from investors, as well as stricter bank lending and uncertainty ahead of the election.
“By October, nationwide annual value growth had slowed to 3.9 per cent, the lowest rate of growth seen in five years,” she said.
“For the Auckland Region it slowed to -0.6 per cent, the slowest annual rate of growth seen there since 2011.”