Mid-air rescue bid fails

Skydiving instructors had to activate a 69-year-old solo jumper's parachute over Motueka yesterday morning but were unable to save the man's life.

The man, from Richmond near Nelson, was making his second jump on a solo skydiving course with two instructors and may have suffered a heart attack after exiting the parachutists' aircraft over Motueka Airport just before 10am.

After instructors activated his parachute, the skydiver descended in a slow spiral before clipping the roof of an industrial building and crashing on to the ground.

Skydive Abel Tasman chief safety officer Stuart Bean, who managed to pull the parachute's ripcord, said the man appeared to have lost consciousness.

Once his parachute was opened, the man failed to respond to radio instructions on how to control the flight under canopy.

Mr Bean said the skydiver had completed a full health questionnaire before he started the course.

- NZPA