Red Devil’s parachute fails to open, teammate catches him mid-air (VIDEO)
A member of the British paratroopers’ Red Devil team had a narrow escape after his parachute failed to open during a display at the Whitehaven Air Show, in Cumbria. His teammate managed to catch him mid-air and bring him to safety.
Thousands were watching from the ground Friday night as the team was doing a freefall stunt. Then one of the chutes failed.
The paratrooper whose parachute had opened properly, grabbed the rope of the malfunctioning one and guided his teammate to safety into Queen’s Dock. Marina staff helped them to get out of the water to public applause.
No one was injured during the incident.
TWEET: Great to hear the #RedDevils are all ok after their #parachute drama:http://t.co/Dn5Iu03jcb@RedDevilsOnlinepic.twitter.com/Gb4mX8WnuJ
— Parachute Regt Band (@PARA_Band) 20 июня 2015
The Red Devils, the British Army’s parachute display team since 1963, says it’s the first time in 25 years that a parachute has failed to open properly. The team carries out over 60 displays every year.
“We can confirm that the Red Devil parachutists are both safe and sound. For the first time in 25 years they had a parachute fail,” a message posted on the show’s Facebook page said.
Army investigating Red Devils parachute incident http://t.co/AcXguWzuD0pic.twitter.com/f1EhwjjSyl
— ITV News (@itvnews) 20 июня 2015
Onlookers who saw the chute fail to open were horrified.
"It seemed to go on for ages and it's just seeing the panic of everyone around you and seeing it on the parachute guys as well – the panic,” Lucy Milne told the BBC. "And then all of a sudden he just started to go really quick and everyone was holding their breath and then all of a sudden they were in the water.”
