Skydiver rescued after parachute gets entangled in live power lines in Lake Elsinore
A woman training to skydive solo released her parachute at the right time and in a good location Monday but somehow missed the planned landing spot, becoming entangled in power lines in Lake Elsinore, said Skydive Elsinore general manager and co-owner Josh Hall.
“She basically overflew the entire airport,” Hall said Monday afternoon. “Luckily she’s fine; obviously it could have been a lot worse.”
Riverside County firefighters rescued the woman dangling from power lines on Corydon Road — not far from Cereal Street and the Skydive Elsinore business — just before noon Monday, according to a tweet from the Fire Department.
The power lines were live when the woman became stuck, but Southern California Edison officials turned off the electricity in that area while firefighters worked to untangle the woman, said Maggie De La Rosa, a spokesperson for Riverside County Fire. No one was injured in the rescue.
A skydiver who plummeted after his parachute failed to completely open survived a fall in which he also struck the roof of a two-story home.
Hall said the woman, whom he declined to identify, was part of the business’ Accelerated Free Fall program, which trains students to become certified to skydive without a tandem instructor. As the woman attempted her first solo training dive Monday, something went wrong after she released the parachute.
Hall said she “could not have been in a better spot,” but something went awry when she needed to steer herself toward an open area to land. He said the parachute “opened properly and was in perfect working order.”
“From what it sounds like, she just got confused,” Hall said. “She basically flew her parachute into an area where she shouldn’t.”
She’s “very lucky she walked away basically without a scratch,” he added.
Hall said the student skydiver was in good spirits.
He called the incident “very rare,” noting that the business makes more than 100,000 flights a year.
Hall said the incident is under investigation and that the company will release additional information when possible.
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