Two experienced skydivers were killed Friday after their parachutes tangled during a coordinated jump in Southern California.
Georgia Jean, 56, of Box Elder, South Dakota, and Levi Pimentel, 29, of Aurora, Illinois, were licensed skydivers taking part in an organized jump at Skydive Elsinore. The pair collided in midair at roughly 150 feet above the ground around noon in Lake Elsinore, about 75 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
According to Skydive Elsinore, the jump proceeded normally through freefall, and both parachutes opened as expected.
File photo of a person skydiving. (Skydive Dubai/Getty Images)
Jean and Pimentel suffered what the Riverside County Fire Department described as traumatic injuries and were taken by ambulance to a hospital, the agency said in a social media post.
Both were pronounced dead at the hospital.
Skydive Elsinore is based in Lake Elsinore, California. (Glenn Koenig/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
“The collision caused their parachutes to become entangled, and both sustained critical injuries when they reached the ground,” Skydive Elsinore said in a statement.
Pimentel was a lead skydiving instructor at iFLY Naperville in Illinois, according to his LinkedIn profile. Jean had completed more than 1,700 jumps, according to her website.
Two U.S. Army skydivers perform during an air show in Southern California. (Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.