Skydiver plummets to death while practicing for contest

A skydiver who was practicsing for a national championships has died after falling hard into a pond in Wisconsin, officials have said.

The 36-year-old man, who has not been named, was descending into the Skydive Midwest skydiving centre near Sturtevant, Wisconsin, on Monday when he made the hard landing in a pond nearby.

Witnesses told the Racine County Sheriff’s Office the man had delpoyed his parachute but appeared to have misjudged the angle of his descent before crashing, and did not appear to be alarmed in the seconds before.

“It appears the victim was descending at the wrong angle for the practice run, resulting in the pond landing,” said the sheriff’s office said in a statement seen by the Associated Press. “The other professional skydivers that witnessed the event believe he misjudged his angle of decent which caused a ‘hard landing’ into the water.”

It added: “Fellow skydivers who also witnessed the event in its entirety stated his parachute was deployed and he showed no signs of distress before, during, or immediately before landing.

The sheriff’s office said the man was pulled from the pond by fellow skydivers and was found unconscious, before life saving efforts were attempted by deputies and the Union Grove-Yorkville Fire & Rescue, CBS reported.

He had reportedly been practicing for the US Parachute Association National Championships which are scheduled to begin on 3 September at the same skydiving centre, which in June experienced a similar tragedy.

Two women aged 28 and 49 were sent to hospital with “life-threatening injuries” after the sheriff’s office said they lost control and crashed on their approach to the skydiving centre from a height of about 20 to 30 feet. It was not clear if the pair recovered.