Australia man dies and another injured in horror skydiving accident after 'parachute malfunction

A skydiving instructor has died and the man he jumped out of a plane with faces life-changing injuries after their parachute malfunctioned mid-dive.

The instructor, who has not yet been named, was attended to immediately by air ambulance paramedics on the scene, but couldn't be saved. He sadly died at the scene.

The horrific incident took place in Torquay, Victoria, Australia, around 1pm (3:00am GMT) on Friday, July 30, 2021.

Police said the jump began safely before the pair "got into difficulty" and crash-landed in a nearby paddock.

A statement read: "One person died at the scene while the other has been airlifted to hospital in a critical condition."

Photos from the scene showed the crumpled parachute lying on the ground at the Torquay paddock.

The injured man was airlifted to a nearby hospital, The Alfred, for emergency treatment. 

Skydive company owner Ralph Hamilton-Presgrave said he doesn't know quite how the tragedy happened.

The Australian Skydive boss told The Age: "[The instructor] is a very experienced jumper, capable of doing everything he had to do. What transpired, I don’t know.

"It’s not a malfunctioning of the suit, the actual parachute malfunctioned.

"The tandem jump went well.

 "They did their free-fall and the main parachute hasn’t opened correctly.

"They’ve elected to use their second parachute. They ran into difficulties and landed very hard.

"The instructor has taken the brunt of the fall, the landing, and put himself in jeopardy to try and minimise the passenger’s injuries."

Ralph didn't comment on the late instructor himself as the family were not yet informed of his untimely death.

This comes less than a week after a US woman died in horror skydiving accident after her parachute failed to open.