Two Tourists Die Skydiving In Florida

Two tourists died while skydiving in Florida after a group jump went wrong.

The skydivers were from Iceland, one an instructor and another a student, and were taking part of a large group that jumped out of a plan in Zephryhills, a town about 30 miles northeast of Tampa.

There were 22 people involved in the skydive jump, but when the group counted only 20 jumpers when they reached the ground, authorities launched a search to find the missing two. Within a few hours they found that the two skydivers died in the crash.

The accident took place only a few months after the death of another European skydiver. Skydiver Mark van den Boogard was killed in the Netherlands when his parachute failed to open. The man’s body was found a few weeks later by a group of hunters.

The group van den Boogard jumped with seemed to justify their lack of safety regulations.

“We never check, there is no law, no regulations,” a representative from the skydiving club told the BBC News.

He added, “If you are forced to find out where everyone is, there can be a big drama for nothing. You can call all the emergency rescue teams and helicopters, then discover the person is sitting at home having tea with his granddad — that has happened before.”

Another skydiver was killed in the United States in January, this one with a connection to Florida as well. A Florida man was skydiving near Seattle when he failed to show up at the landing site. A search was launched, as it was believed his body was lost somewhere in the Cascade Mountains.

It wasn’t clear what safety measures were in place for the Florida skydiving deaths, or exactly how they occurred.

The identities of the skydivers who died in the Florida crash were not released.