Horror as skydiver, 69, plunges to his death in Thailand
A SCOTS pensioner has died after plunging into a reservoir in a horrific skydiving accident.
Veteran skydiver James McConnell was in Pattaya, Thailand, when the accident happened yesterday.
The 69-year-old great-grandfather, originally from Duntocher, Dunbartonshire, leapt from a plane from British-owned firm Thai Sky Adventures before being killed in the freefall.
At present it is not clear whether his parachute opened. It is also unknown whether he was killed during the jump or on impact with water.
The intended landing site had been the Thai Sky Adventures airstrip but the father-of-one crashed into the waters of the adjacent Nong Kho reservoir.
Mr McConnell, who had lived and worked in Thailand for some 20 years, was pulled from the water by paramedics after the jump at around 3pm local time but he was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.
The standard height for jumping excursions run by the business is 13,000ft, with freefall speeds reaching up to 125mph. Mr McConnell, who worked as a piping engineer, was an experienced and qualified skydiver with his own equipment who had made more than 1,000 jumps.
His sister Maria Harkins, 67, paid tribute to him from her home in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire, calling him ‘laid-back, unassuming’ and a ‘quiet gentleman’.
She said: ‘He was an experienced skydiver. We don’t know if his parachute opened or what happened, but he always took his own kit and packed it himself and used a camera on his helmet. It’s a shock because he wasn’t ill a day in his life. Nobody knows what happened, but he was very experienced. He had done over 1,000 skydives. He skydived for charity, doing exhibition skydives and he loved the thrill.
‘He skydived every weekend when he was here at Strathallan. I have been crying all day.’
She also explained that his oil rig worker son Mark, 43, was offshore when he was contacted by one of his father’s friends in Thailand with the devastating news.
He was airlifted to the mainland yesterday to begin a journey to Thailand from his home in Forfar, Angus.
James McConnell’s brother-inlaw John Harkins, 68, said: ‘His son Mark picked up the mantle from his dad and also lives for skydiving. Mark now has to deal with the news and we will have to see about bringing James home.
‘It’s such a shock because it was so unexpected. We are waiting for an investigation to see what happened and to ascertain the cause, whether it was a heart attack or what.’
In addition to his son Mr McCon- nell leaves behind two grown-up grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren, both toddlers.
Yesterday Colonel Chonnapat Nawalak of the police in Chonburi said that officers had launched an investigation into the death.
He said: ‘We’re still checking the cause of his death. He jumped from the plane and landed in the water, so we have to check whether he died from the jumping or from drowning.
‘Officers were at hospital with him and the family. Paramedics tried to save him but he died.
‘There are lots of different accounts of what happened. The foreign man landed in the water next to the runway. He should not have landed there but why we do not know.
‘We’re investigating with the owner of the centre to find out exactly what happened.’
The British owner of Thai Sky Adventures, pilot Harry Harrison, yesterday confirmed someone had died during a jump but refused to comment further.
In 2015, two skydivers from Mr Harrison’s Thai Sky Adventures centre recorded a near-death moment when they came within inches of being killed by the plane they had just jumped from.
Last night, the British embassy in Bangkok could not be contacted for comment.
‘He wasn’t ill a day in his life’