British tourist plunges 13,000ft to death after going into shock during parachute jump

From Mail onLine

A British tourist plunged 13,000 feet to his death in a parachuting tragedy in Spain today.

Richard Taylor, 34,  died after apparently going into a state of shock during freefall.

His automatic emergency chute then attempted to open – but failed after a line became caught on his arm.

Police and accident investigators were tonight probing the tragedy.

The victim, was on a four-day course with four male British friends.

He died on the fifth jump of a total of seven, all of which are taken with fully trained English speaking instructors.

The accident happened at the Airelibre parachuting school in Ocana, near Toledo in central Spain, at around 2pm.

He booked the course through the British school Freefall University, who provided the instructors for the jumps.

Airelibre spokesman David Coleman said: ‘We are devastated by this tragic accident.
‘He was on his fifth jump and had previously done absolutely everything right, showing great control and altitude awareness.
‘But on the fifth jump it went wrong.
‘He had been in freefall for about a minute when he curled up into a ball, probably as a result of going into shock.
‘The instructor tried to catch him, but when someone is curled up in a ball that is impossible.
‘The instructor gave repeated hand signals telling him to open his chute, but he did not respond.
‘Eventually the instructor had to open his own parachute.
‘Then the student´s automatic activation device attempted to open the emergency parachute.
‘But because of the student´s position curled up in a ball, a line got caught on his arm and could not open properly.’

Houdi de la Fuente, commercial director of Airelibre, said: ‘This is incredibly sad, he was a young man who was full of life and dreams and excitement.
‘For him to have his life cut short like this is absolutely tragic.’

A police source said that the victim had ‘fallen like a lead weight’ to the ground, just 300 m from the air strip where the plane had taken off.

The mayor of Ocana Josi Carlos Martmnez Osteso said police had established that neither parachute had opened.

A doctor at the aerodrome raced to the scene but the student was already dead.

Mr Taylor is the second Brit to die in a parachute jump with the school.

In August last year Andrew Bearne, 39, from Guildford, Surrey, crash landed on his first solo skydive.

And three years ago mother-of-four Anna Endicott, 31, from Thornby, Gloucestershire, died when she collided with her instructor in the same part of Spain.