- A South African skydiver survived an 11,000ft plunge,
suffering only a fractured pelvic bone and some bruises after her main
parachute failed to open. Flights & Hotels
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- Christine McKenzie, 23, said yesterday that when she
tried her reserve parachute, it too failed to work properly, getting tangled.
After a free-fall of about 45 seconds, she crashed into power cables, which
helped to slow her impact with the ground, the Johannesburg Star newspaper
reported.
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- When she pulled on her parachute cord ready for the gentle
descent to the ground, the chute failed to open.
-
- She tugged at her reserve but it opened so forcefully
that some of the lines snapped and became tangled. McKenzie tried to free
the parachute but there was nothing she could do.
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- "I was in a spiral heading to the ground,"
she said from her hospital bed. However, the power lines broke her fall.
-
- "If it wasn't for them, I would have died. It all
happened so fast. I hit the ground really hard and I was kind of waiting
to die. Then the pain set in." She was taken to a hospital in Johannesburg
where doctors found only a fractured pelvic bone and some bruises.
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- Vana Gulliver, an instructor at her club, said a reserve
parachute malfunction was rare. "I have never heard of that before,"
she said.
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- McKenzie, who was doing her 112th skydive, said she would
jump again.
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- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004.
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