Tandem parachute mishap leaves 2 people seriously injured

A female instructor and the man she was training both suffered serious injuries after atandem parachute jump went wrong Wednesday afternoon inGatineau, Que.

Gatineaupolicereceived a call at around 2p.m. ETthat a parachutist had been injured just east of the Gatineau airport.

Police said a 45-year-old novice jumper suffered multiple injuries and was taken to Ottawa Hospital in life-threatening condition.

The 22-year-old instructoralso suffered multiple injuries, but is expected to survive. She had about one year's experience as an instructor working fora skydiving company operating out of the Gatineau airport, police said.

GO Skydive, also known as Parachute Gatineau-Ottawa Skydive, confirmed that it was the companyinvolved in the jump and the instructor was its employee.

In a French-languagestatement issued Wednesday night, the companysaid the pair jumped from a height of 13,500 feet, or just over 4,100 metres, and deployed their main parachute around 5,000 feet, or just over 1,500 metres.

The main parachute was abandoned and a reserve parachute activated, according to the statement.

The company said Quebec's workplace health and safety body, theCommission de la sant et de la scurit du travail, visited the scene and allowed them to return to normal activities around 7 p.m.

2nd skydiver tried rescue

Witness Gilles Lacurcieresaid he saw seven parachutes in the air, one of which appeared to be in trouble.

"One of them, it was a white parachute that came down like a spiral, all the way down," said Lacurciere. "I said, there's something wrong."

A second parachutist tried unsuccessfully to glide down to rescue the wayward parachute, Lacurciere added.

It's not known yet exactly what went wrong on the jump, but Gatineau police said Wednesday afternoonthere was a problem with the parachute.