Easter Sunday was supposed to be a happy day for the Dye family in Washington Township, N.J., until a skydiver plummeted to his death in their backyard as they were hunting for Easter eggs. Experienced 49-year-old jumper Arkady Shenker's "wing suit"-style parachute apparently failed to open on Sunday afternoon after jumping from a plane organized by Freefall Adventures.
"I saw the jumpers. Then I noticed one, and he kind of looked like he was conscious. He was just spinning," Annie Marie Dye told ABC Action News. After hitting the ground, Shenker appeared, amazingly, to be breathing but he was pronounced dead after being taken to the hospital by paramedics.
This is the second recent death associated with Freefall Adventures. In 2011, Scott Shields, the mayor of Rutledge, Pa., also had a parachute that failed to open. The FAA is currently investigating the incident. And yes, as Gawker noted, the coincidence of a man dying in the Dye family backyard as the Dyes dyed Easter eggs hasn't been lost on anyone.
[via ABC Action News and Gawker]
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