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| Two die in tandem skydiving accident south-west of Sydney | Two die in tandem skydiving accident south-west of Sydney |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Investigators are still trying to find what went wrong after a skydiving instructor and his pupil plunged to their deaths south-west of Sydney. | Investigators are still trying to find what went wrong after a skydiving instructor and his pupil plunged to their deaths south-west of Sydney. |
| The Sydney Skydivers instructor aged in his 60s and his student in his 20s died during a tandem skydiving lesson at Wilton, located between Sydney and Wollongong, on Saturday afternoon. | The Sydney Skydivers instructor aged in his 60s and his student in his 20s died during a tandem skydiving lesson at Wilton, located between Sydney and Wollongong, on Saturday afternoon. |
| It is understood the pair took off from the nearby Sydney Skydivers centre, which was also their intended landing zone, but crashed on to a private property about a kilometre away. | It is understood the pair took off from the nearby Sydney Skydivers centre, which was also their intended landing zone, but crashed on to a private property about a kilometre away. |
| Police found the men dead at the scene. A local resident called police to the front of the property on Wilton Road about 2pm. | Police found the men dead at the scene. A local resident called police to the front of the property on Wilton Road about 2pm. |
| Colombian tourist Catalina Granados jumped minutes before the fatal accident happened. She said she wasn’t told of the fatality until hours after it happened. | |
| “They didn’t tell us when it happened, they made us wait around three hours and they told us what happened when were were back in Sydney,” Ms Granados told Fairfax Media. | |
| “After we changed our clothes, all the instructors were called to go somewhere else ... but we didn’t know anything.” | |
| Another skydiver, Dustin Leonard, told News Corp Australia he was on his way to sign up for a second jump scheduled for Saturday afternoon when he was told some skydivers had landed far away from the scheduled area. | |
| “I don’t think anyone knew something bad had happened,” he said. “I think it’s just tragic. It’s just a fluke accident.” | |
| A spokesman for Sydney Skydivers said the exact cause of the incident was not yet known but more information would be released once police and safety officers from the Australian Parachute Federation finished their investigations. | A spokesman for Sydney Skydivers said the exact cause of the incident was not yet known but more information would be released once police and safety officers from the Australian Parachute Federation finished their investigations. |
| Owner Phil Onis told News Corp Australia that his instructor had been skydiving for more than 20 years. | Owner Phil Onis told News Corp Australia that his instructor had been skydiving for more than 20 years. |
| “He was an experienced skydiver,” he said. “We are keen to get in there and find out what happened. | “He was an experienced skydiver,” he said. “We are keen to get in there and find out what happened. |