Skydiver Plunges 3,300ft To Death After Parachute Fails To Open

In a horrific incident, a 23-year-old woman died after her parachute failed to open while skydiving. She plunged 3,300 feet to her death.

The woman, identified as Romane Hourcastagnou, was skydiving near her home in the French city of Strasbourg with a group of 10 people when the tragedy occurred last week, Yahoo News Australia reported. Strasbourg was an experienced parachutist, who had recorded over 100 jumps.

According to local reports, Hourcastagnou jumped from the plane but when she tried to release the lock of her parachute, it failed to open. It remains unclear what caused the problem.

People who witnessed the incident said Hourcastagnou tried to carry out an emergency maneuver but was unable to do it due to the height and speed of her fall. Within seconds, the young woman hit the ground and died immediately.

Other parachutists tried to help the victim but were unsuccessful.

"We watched the accident with total helplessness. After her parachute did not open, the impact with the ground was very violent," one eyewitness told Neiva Estereo, an English translation showed. Emergency responders arrived at the scene and retrieved the woman's body. It was taken to a hospital and kept in the morgue.

The exact date of the incident is unknown.

Local authorities confirmed to Yahoo News Australia that they opened an investigation to identify whether the parachute used in the skydiving trip was faulty or if the incident occurred due to human error.

In a similar incident in February, a Texas skydiving instructor died after his parachute failed to deploy in a tandem jump with a female client. Police said the parachute malfunctioned mid-air after the jump. The skydiving trip was organized by Skydive Houston in Waller County.

An eyewitness said he saw the Skydive Houston instructor and his student struggling with their parachutes while still in the air.

"He let off his primary and then the secondary shoot like opened halfway up so he didn't fall like a straight fall he was like 50 percent shoot, like a corkscrew," Alex Arias, the witness, said. The man died despite receiving treatment, while the woman was hospitalized for her injuries.