Woman dies after skydivers collide in the air

A woman has tragically died in New Zealand after crashing into a fellow skydiver and plunging into the water.

A woman has died after colliding with another skydiver in the air. Photo: Gail Taifalos

A woman has died after colliding with another skydiver in the air at Auckland‘s Muriwai Beach last night.

The woman ended up in the water and died at the scene while a man in his 20s received moderate injuries and was taken to Auckland Hospital.

A woman has died after colliding with another skydiver in the air. Photo: Gail Taifalos

A Muriwai resident said he saw a jetski race out to the skydiver in the water to perform CPR for at least 10 minutes.

“While this was happening, the police chopper arrived, within minutes, and circled above them.”

He said a second jetski then raced out to them and CPR continued. They were located about 800m north of Oaia Island, about 900m offshore.

“The Westpac rescue chopper then arrived and landed on Muriwai Beach. The jet skis then brought the skydivers to the beach and at that stage darkness made it too hard to see.”

He captured a photo of the incident after hearing a low-flying plane outside his house, which is on the edge of the cliff above Māori Bay.

Police said they were notified of the incident around 7.43pm.

“Early indications are that a large group of people were skydiving when two of them have collided in the air.

“A female diver has sadly gone into the water and died at the scene.”

A man in his 20s received moderate injuries and was taken to Auckland Hospital. Photo: Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter

A Skydive Auckland spokesperson confirmed “the parachutist did take off from Skydive Auckland and we will be releasing a statement in 48 hours”.

A person on a local social media community page believed the woman had been blown out to sea - at least one rescue helicopter was on the scene last night.

WorkSafe and the Civil Aviation Authority have been notified.

The matter will be referred to the coroner.

This story originally appeared in the NZ Herald and is reprinted here with permission.



Originally published as Woman dies after skydivers collide in the air