Skydiver survives 3,000 foot plunge after parachute tangles

A skydiver must have had her guardian angel jumping with her, surviving after plummeting 3,000 feet to the ground when her parachute failed to deploy properly.

The Sun reports that Lareece Butler, 26, escaped with a broken leg, concussion and bruises after plunging to the Earth as her boyfriend watched from the ground in horror.

Butler was on a training course at EP Skydivers in King William's Town, located in South Africa's Eastern Cape province.

She leaped from a plane with a parachute that was supposed to open automatically, but it suffered problems within seconds of exiting the aircraft.

"It should have all run smoothly but she exited the plane in an unusual and unstable position," said skydive manager Joos Vos. "This caused the parachute leads to become entangled. Although the parachute did partially inflate, it was rotating and becoming more entangled as she dropped."

Vos added that the novice skydiver is very lucky to be alive. "She had been trained to use the emergency procedure but unfortunately she did not and instead fell towards the ground."

Butler remains in intensive care where doctors said she was in a stable condition.

"The doctor said it was nothing but divine intervention, nothing short of a miracle," said Butler's stepfather, Victor Peterson.

-- Kelly Burgess

Photo: A skydiver (not Butler) floats back down to Earth. Credit: Los Angeles Times

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Comments

[Skydivers]

Thank you for the tip. Looks like I need to listen more when these guys are trying to teach me skydive speak...

[Skydivers]

An interesting read. Thanks for sharing this information.

[ed duboce]

I think the doctor's euphanism was just to explain that she was an idiot.

You always pack your own shoot.

[Jess]

qReminds me of the movie Major League when the team is flying in bad weather and Voodoo practicioner Cerrano, who had earlier given JC the brush off, does the sign of the cross. To which a good ol' boy says "Ohhh, now you believe. Don't worry, he ain't fooled."

But seriously, if that's what somebody believes, so be it. Kelly Burgess is just reporting what the guy said. Who are you, or anybody else for that matter, to tell him otherwise? If you don't believe in a higher power, that's your OPINION. And unless yours is the end all, be all... That's what I thought. Last time I checked everybody was entitled to their respective opinion. God Bless You.

[Joseph Todd]

Why go to the superstitious explanation rather than the much more apparent physics explanation that there was drag from the partially opened chute that slowed her to an impact speed that was survivable? No ghosts, spirits or other imaginary creatures needed, only reality. Sorry she sustained the injuries but physics happens.