One of two skydivers killed Saturday was an 18-year-old Los Banos man who graduated from high school just two months ago and was jumping for the first time, his mother said Sunday in an interview with the Merced Sun-Star.
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Both victims were men in their 20s, and one was an instructor, according to Deputy Les Garcia. They have not been identified.
Authorities received a call that the skydivers had hit the ground without an open parachute, said Lt.
She said didn’t see her son come down with his instructor because of the distance and not knowing what colour their parachute was.
According to a report from the Associated Press, the bodies were found in a vineyard in Acampo, about 30 miles south of Sacramento, San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office Lt.
The owner of the Northern California skydiving center where the accident happened says the young man had his brother and others there watching when he hit the ground with his veteran instructor.
Dause said the parachute had failed to work properly but did not name possible causes for the deadly equipment malfunction.
But Dause said he believed the group saw the entire video, as it plays repeatedly at the centre.
The owner of the Lodi Parachute Center says the first-time skydiver had been making a tandem jump on Saturday. “I am always liable but I am not concerned”.
“We didn’t do anything wrong”, Dause told KCRA-TV.
The skydive center was in the news in May, when a small plane carrying 17 skydivers took off from there and landed upside-down after clipping a pickup. “It’s a love of the sport”.
Salazar said she paid $175 for her son’s jump, which included a video recording that is now in the hands of federal investigators.
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The Parachute Center stayed in business for the rest of the day Saturday, even after news of the jumpers’ deaths, CBS Sacramento reported. People involved sustained minor cuts and scrapes.
