A 49-year-old man has died after a parachuting accident near Edmonton.
The incident happened Saturday at Skydive Eden North, a facility located in Lac Ste Anne County, northwest of Edmonton.
RCMP were notified of an unresponsive parachuter at the facility shortly before 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. He was taken to hospital and later pronounced dead.
The man has been identified as John Scott, an experienced skydiver and instructor at Eden North.
Lyal Waddell, president of Skydive Eden North and one of Scott’s closest friends, was there when the accident happened.
He told CTV News Scott was moving fast to the ground and couldn’t set off his equipment in time to slow his parachute down.
“He hit the ground very hard,” Waddell said.
After the impact, Scott was bloodied, bruised and having trouble breathing. He was taken to hospital where he died about an hour later.
Waddell said his friend’s death is a big loss to the tight-knit skydiving community. He said Scott had great skills across a wide area of skydiving.
According to Eden North’s website, Scott had been skydiving since 1984 and had completed more than 9,000 jumps.
“Where the greatest injuries are happening right now is (with) highly qualified experienced people with over 500 jumps,” Waddell said.
Scott's cousin, Brenda Lachance, told CTV News she is devastated by the loss.
“He was a happy person to be around,” she said.
Scott’s family is now making funeral arrangements for a man they describe as adventurous.
“It was his passion so he died doing what he loved doing,” Lachance said.
Approximately 12,000 jumps take place at Skydive Eden North a year.
With a report from CTV Edmonton’s Jeff Harrington
