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Man dies after losing consciousness while skydiving in Saitama

8 Comments

A skydiver died on Sunday after he landed in a wheat field in Okegawa City, Saitama Prefecture. Police said the skydiver, a 42-year-old male office worker from Yokohama, appears to have lost consciousness after opening his parachute, and his death may have been the result of an illness, Fuji TV reported.

Police said the incident occurred at around 10:20 a.m. The man was a student of the Tokyo Skydiving Club in Kawajima, Saitama Prefecture. Students boarded a plane at Kawajima airport. The man jumped separately with his instructor at a height of about 3,800 meters. After successfully opening his parachute at 1,800 meters, the man failed to respond to his instructor’s calls via radio.

When he landed, the man was unconscious. He was rushed to the hospital where he was confirmed dead.

Because the man did not have any injuries such as fractures or even bruises, police believe it is unlikely that he died from the impact of landing. Saitama prefectural police will carry out an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

The skydiving club said the man joined in May and this was his third jump.

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8 Comments
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Very tragic. I was thinking he died because of the impact, but I guess it was his condition. I'm interested to know what he had, as a warning to anyone else who may have something similar

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The results of the autopsy are needed. A lung embolism or stroke seem reasonable explanations, at this point.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I know next to nothing about skydiving but I was a bit surprised to read that someone can go solo on only their 3rd jump.

As I am about his age, I start to realize the delicacy of my heart, etc. and got to take it easy on suddenly exciting activities such as skydiving, and also marathon running

I hear you Reckless, me too. Perhaps it's time to retire the old 'Reckless' pseudonym and change it to 'Cautious'?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I have over 2,700 jumps. From what was written, this was probable the third jump on an accelerated freefall program. If that is the case, there were 2 instructors in the air with him until he deployed his own parachute (no ripcord, pull the pilot chute from a pouch). The instructors would have known if he lost conscience before the parachute deployment. The normal parachute opening force is about 4 G's for a very short time. Most healthy people can tolerate that. Sometimes (rarely) the parachute opens with a vengeance, and a 9+ G opening shock can occur. That force, even for a very short time can damage internal organs, especially if they have a weakness (probably unknown). Checking the parachute might show that it was a hard opening. The autopsy should tell.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Speaking as a layman, chances were high that he had an inveterate disease and couldn't handle the impact shock when opening his parachute. RIP.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Losing consciousness while doing risk activities like skydiving, scuba diving, mountain climbing, etc can be fatal. In fact just driving a car can be as well. RIP.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

He was my colleague and a good guy.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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