Skydiver, 30, dies after parachute fails to open in Australia

The man was believed to be using his own gear for the sport

File The man was participating in the skydiving competition at Jurien Bay (Sergeant Dave Pacey/Getty)

A 30-year-old foreign national crashed to his death during a solo skydiving jump in western Australia after his parachute failed to open, according to the police.

The man, who was an experienced skydiver with 6000 completed jumps, was competing in the wingsuit event with his friends in the popular skydiving destination of Jurien Bay, north of Perth on Sunday. His identity remains unknown.

“The man jumped from an aircraft and it is believed his parachutes failed to deploy correctly and he fell to the ground,” police said in a statement on Monday, reported The Australian.

The man received critical injuries after hitting the ground and died on the scene, police said.

An investigation has been ordered into his death, the Australian Parachute Federation’s chief executive officer Richard McCooey said.

"Regardless of the level of experience involved, safety is paramount and we take the incident very seriously," Mr McCooey said.

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Leslee Holmes, the president of Shire of Dandaragan, a town where the accident occurred, said the man was using his own equipment and called it an “absolute tragedy”.

“We’re absolutely devastated. For the first responders too, it’s horrific,” she said.

Skydive Jurien Bay co-owner Christine Sparrow said the man was participating in the Virtual Australian Skydiving Championships, hosted by the Australian Parachute Federation.

“This is a terrible day for the skydiving community,” she said. “Our thoughts are with the man’s family and friends as well as the first responders at the event yesterday.”

About 22 people have died in skydiving related incidents in Australia between 2006-2015, according to the 2016 annual report by the Australian Parachute Federation.

In 2017, three Australian skydivers were killed in a tragic mid-air collision between a single diver and tandem. The crash prompted calls for skydiving groups in Australia to disallow divers from using their own equipment.