The newspaper is today awaiting a name for the victim of a parachute accident in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, who, we were made to understand, suffered major injuries after his parachute was diverted from the landing site by the strong breeze, causing him to crash into a power line.
The victim, who has already been flown out of Belize via Air Ambulance, is said to have suffered a punctured lung, a broken rib and seriously injured his back.
This is the third year for what is called “Boogie in Belize,” and this is the second in a row for us to see how deadly it actually can be.
Last year, on Thursday, February 16, which is usually the time for the Boogie in Belize, a skydiver, Chad Zeilinski, 45, an American, plummeted to his death at more than 300 miles per hour, landing in the sea after falling over 30,000 feet.
The incident occurred around 2:00 that afternoon. Zeilinski jumped, along with fifteen other skydivers, from a DeHavilland Twin Otter. Zelinski, was said to have been an expert at skydiving.
Investigations later revealed that Zeilinski’s chute was in perfect order. The investigators could only conclude that Zeilinksi somehow overestimated the time he had left to pull his deployment string.
A post-mortem conducted on Zeilinski certified that he died from traumatic shock. Almost every bone in his body was shattered as a result of the long fall.
Richard Grimm, organizer of the Boogie in Belize, on Friday had skydivers do a dive as a memorial jump for Zeilinski.