Two Icelanders taking part in a group skydive in Tampa Bay, Florida on Saturday have died, though it is not yet known whether the cause was parachute failure, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Örvar Arnarson, an experienced skydiving instructor with thousands of jumps under his belt, and Andri Már Þórðarson, a student on his eighth jump, were jumping in a group of 22 skydivers and were the only two in the group not to land at the designated spot with the rest of the group. Some hours later, after a helicopter was deployed in a search, the bodies of the two men were found not far from one another.
The two Icelanders were not doing a tandem jump, and local authorities in Florida were investigating whether either of their parachutes had opened.
UPDATE: According to The Monitor, Örvar and Andri Már had not deployed their parachutes. While officials are still investigating, it appears that the two men had lost track of their altitude and neglected to deploy their main chutes. By the time the back-up parachutes deployed (as they automatically do if a main chute isn’t working) there was not enough time for them to inflate fully to save either of the men from impact.
Buy subscriptions, t-shirts and more from our shop right here!
