Woman skydiver falls to death from 10,000 ft in Salem

, Jan 31: A 26-year-old woman skydiver fell to death from a height of 10,000 feet on Thursday when her parachute failed to open after she dived from an aircraft over Salem airport. And her husband was waiting for his turn to dive when she fell.

V Ramya and her husband Vinoth (28), are members of the Indian Skydiving and Parachute Association. They had practiced at Salem for almost a week before attempting a dive from such a height. The couple is from Bangalore where Vinoth runs a software firm and Ramya was a homemaker.

Ramya was told by instructors to pull the cord on the parachute at 6,000 feet but was unable to spread it open after she jumped from an aircraft over Omalur near Salem, police said.

Ramya was accompanied by two skydiving trainers, Mohan Rao (38) and Aishwarya Yadav (33). They took off in a four-seater Cessna aircraft from Salem at 11am. Ramya jumped from 10,000 feet.

The trainers quickly followed her. "She was supposed to open the parachute once she reached 6,000 feet. But when she tried, it didn't open properly. Instead, it started to spin around her body due to heavy winds," Vinoth added. Vinoth also alleged that they were not guided during the training session on what to do when parachute fails to open.

Ramya was rushed to a private hospital near Omalur where doctors declared her dead. The instructors were taken into custody and booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The police registered a case and further investigations were on. "ISPA authorities have gone into hiding after this incident. We have launched a search for them," Omalur inspector S Kumaresan added.

Oneindia News