Two people were injured Tuesday afternoon in a tandem skydiving accident in Bucks County.
Rescue crews in Bucks County were called to Guth Elementary School in Perkasie shortly around 11:30 a.m.
County emergency officials say the two victims, identified as 37-year-old Obataiye Samuel of Philadelphia and Robert Mandic, 41, of Hilltown Township, were injured while tandem skydiving out of the Pennridge Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration says their parachute malfunctioned.
The two men were airlifted from Guth Elementary School on Seventh Street to Lehigh Valley Hospital and Temple University Hospital following the accident at about 12 p.m., officials said. Investigators have not yet revealed their conditions.
"We don't know what happened. It was a normal tandem jump," said Aaron Teel, the drop zone manager with Skydive Philadelphia, which operates from Pennridge Airport on Ridge Road in East Rockhill.
The school is about one-half mile from the airport, where the skydivers took off and were expected to return.
"We saw them malfunctioning...we saw them land," said Teel, who was on the plane when the pair jumped. "Obviously, we're all shocked."
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Asked if the weather may have been a factor, Teel said only, "it's a beautiful day."
In a tandem jump, an experienced diver is attached to the new diver by harnesses.
Teel declined to offer any more details on the accident, saying, "we're just concerned for the two individuals and want to make sure they're cared for."
As part of the investigation, Perkasie Police Chief Steven Hillias said his department is cooperating with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
Skydive Philadelphia has been operating from the Pennridge Airport for 10 years, said Teel. He did not immediately know how many accidents the company has had.
Roughly half a million people a year in the U.S. successfully jump from an airplane for the first time on a tandem skydive, according to the United States Parachute Association.
From a typical jump altitude of 10,000 to 15,000 feet, it takes just over one minute for the skydiver to freefall to parachute-opening altitudes of 4,000 to 2,000 feet, the FAA reports.
