Skydiver survives 13,000 ft drop as parachute fails
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Lucky escape! A skydiver whose parachute failed to open, miraculously survived a 13,000 feet fall, landing into a muddy bog that saved his life.
Liam Dunne, 35, who is a father of two, broke his back after dramatically crashing into the ground at high speed and landing in the soft, waterlogged area.
His reserve parachute opened at the last moment on the horrifying descent at a festival in Moteuko, New Zealand, but it was still too late to prevent him suffering serious injury, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Dunne, originally from St Annes, Lancashire, was treated at the scene by medics and taken to a specialist spinal unit in Christchurch where doctors have said he should walk again.
Since the accident two weeks ago, he has astonished doctors with his recovery after undergoing surgery to insert metal pins into his shattered spine.
Speaking from his hospital bed, Dunne said: "Those last 1,000 feet it was like 'here we go, this is it'. It wasn't nice. But that said, it was a one in a million accident and a one in a million save". "Skydiving is an awesome sport, and I've done 4,000 jumps and never had a problem," he said.
Dunne, who now lives in Taupo, said, "he went into an unrecoverable spin, had to ditch his main chute, and couldn't find the reserve canopy's handle. It finally opened just 228 metres from the ground." "As my reserve chute was coming out I realised it was too late, so I just braced for the impact. Luckily I hit the softest patch of ground on the whole airfield. I bounced hard and my whole left side went numb," he said.
He jumped from the plane in good weather conditions but the main parachute completely failed to activate. The New Zealand Parachute Industry Association has launched an investigation into the incident.
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