by Sabrina Salas Matanane, KUAM News Tuesday, August 10, 2004 Subscribe to Sabrina's newsfeed   E-mail this article Printable version KUAM Toolbar Web Widgets Get RSS headlines

KUAM News has confirmed two people died after their parachute failed to open this morning. According to eyewitnesses KUAM News spoke to on the scene, the skydivers were seen spiraling downward and landed in the jungle area before the Lopez Color TV Repair along Farfan Street in Mangilao.

The two victims are believed to be a male instructor of Tandem Skydive Guam and a female tourist. Witnesses from the Department of Agriculture say they saw two people doing a tandem skydive. They heard a flapping noise coming from the sky and noticed that their parachute did not open.

The bodies have not been removed from the scene. Agents from the Guam Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division along with officials from the Guam Fire Department are looking into the matter.

Tandem Skydive Guam is reserving comment at this time. KUAM was told they are working to identify next of kin of both of the deceased.

According to statistics on the United States Parachute Association's Web site, 33 people died from skydiving accidents in 2002. In 2003, that total declined to 25 fatalities.