In a tragic development, a veteran skydiver plunged to his death after his parachute malfunctioned during a skydiving competition.
30-year-old Dimitri Didenko was performing a solo wingsuit jump at Jurien Bay in Perth, Australia, at 1.30 pm yesterday during the Virtual Nationals Skydiving Competition when the tragic accident happened.
Reports indicate that Didenko was ‘very experienced’ and was performing a ‘high level’ jump, when his parachute failed to open correctly just after he jumped off the helicopter resulting in the fatal mishap.
After he fell, the emergency crews immediately rushed to help him but it was too late as he died at the scene.
Didenko, who was born in Russia and lived in Italy, had participated in record-setting skydives and competitions around the globe. He had completed more than 6,000 jumps.
Jurien Bay has become a popular area for skydiving in Australia, most of the skydiving competitions take place there. Sadly, this is not the first time someone has been injured or killed at Jurien Bay.
In 2019, a man in his 20s fractured his leg during a ‘hard landing’ while skydiving there. He was airlifted to the hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening.
Skydiving is a very risky sport, last year, a sky-diving student got her parachute tangled in a plane’s propeller after jumping from one aircraft and accidentally landing on another. Luckily, she escaped the harrowing ordeal with only minor injuries.
