Parachute jump ends in triple tragedy as lone skydiver tangles with tandem pair

THREE people have died in an “horrific” skydiving incident in northeastern Australia, after a solo diver collided with a pair on a tandem leap.

The accident occurred at a popular skydiving spot at Mission Beach, a coastal tourist town south of the city of Cairns in Queensland.

One of the victims landed in the front garden of a home and the two others were found entangled in a nearby tree on a banana farm. Queensland police said the victims were two men – highly experienced skydiving professionals, aged 34 and 35 – and a 50-year-old woman customer. The woman has been named by local media as Kerri Pike, a mother of eight.

“It’s a horrific scene – and there’s going to be a lot of families very upset as a result of this,” said a police spokesman.

A witness said he saw the divers falling and watched helplessly as they crashed to the ground. “I watched it unfold,” the man, who did not wish to be named, told The Cairns Post.

“You could see one chute was tangled and it wasn’t opening. I was just watching him in free fall until he went behind the trees, and that was the last I saw... It wasn’t good to watch. I had my heart in my mouth.”

Police believe the solo skydiver may have collided with the pair and that their parachutes did not open properly.

Skydiving at Mission Beach has been suspended pending an investigation.