Undeterred, skydivers to pursue records despite deaths

Melanie Eversley | The Arizona Republic

Show Caption Hide Caption Skydivers die in mid-air collision Two skydivers were killed and one injured after a collision hundreds of feet above their drop zone.

The collision occurred more than 200 feet above the ground

The skydivers were jumping at Skydive Arizona

Police say the two skydivers who died Tuesday are not American

PHOENIX — A group of 200 skydivers plans to return to the skies over Arizona on Wednesday to pursue world records despite the death of two divers Tuesday, a member of the group said.

"This is one of those things we have to face with the sport, the chance of injury," said skydiver Andrew Barker.

The skydivers died Tuesday after colliding in midair near Eloy, police said. The crash took place at Skydive Arizona, which operates out of Eloy Municipal Airport, about 60 miles south of Phoenix.

Witnesses said the skydivers had open parachutes when they collided about 200 to 300 feet above the ground, causing their canopies to collapse and sending them plummeting, Eloy police Sgt. Brian Jerome said.

One person was pronounced dead at the scene and the other was pronounced dead at Casa Grande Regional Medical Center. A third skydiver, injured in an unrelated accident, was flown to Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix, Jerome said. He said the deceased were not American, but he declined to name their countries of origin. They were part of a 200-member group, he said.

The cause of the collision is under investigation, Jerome said.

The group had been working to create "as many new 'official' world sequential records as we can" by Friday, according to a website promoting Square1 World Sequential Series '13.

According to the facility's website, Skydive Arizona sits in the heart of the Sonoran Desert midway between Phoenix and Tucson. The facility was launched in 1978 by a skydiving couple and it offers the largest drop zone in the world, the site advertises. Teams Arizona Airspeed and Arizona Arsenal offer coaching from SkyDive Arizona.

Contributing: Melanie Eversley and John Bacon, USA TODAY