Two Florida skydivers fall to the ground after parachutes fail
Both survived and were airlifted to hospital in a critical condition
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Two skydivers spiralled out of control as they fell and crashed into a Florida front yard in an apparent parachute malfunction captured on video.
Both survived the fall and were airlifted to hospital in a critical condition.
"They hit the ground and hard," said eyewitness Christina Renfroe in a Facebook post of the video, taken from a nearby dog park.
While two parachutes appeared to have deployed to some degree during the fall, the video showed them spinning around each other as two men in a tandem jump accelerated towards the ground.
Titusville Police Department said in a statement that the men hit a tree before landing in the front yard of a home on Tennessee Street on Wednesday.
"The preliminary investigation has revealed that the two victims, who were part of a tandem jump from a plane that originated at Dunn Airport, experienced a parachute malfunction," the Titusville Police statement said.
Photos of the crash site from Titusville Fire Department, which responded to the emergency with Brevard County Fire Rescue, show branches and limbs of the tree that broke their fall strewn across the front lawn.
Fire Department Battalion Chief Greg Sutton told CNN the two men were alert, conscious and talking when paramedics arrived.
Local Orlando station WESH said the jump was arranged through Skydive Space Centre, and was a skydiving instructor with a student on his first jump.
The Skydive Space Centre did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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