U.S. skydiver plunges to his death off San Pedro

A year ago on this newscast we reported on a new activity in Belize’s ever expanding world of tourism. Skydiving over the turquoise blue Caribbean was introduced to Ambergris Caye by an intrepid band of adventurers who took the island by storm and even induced dozens of Belizeans–me included–to literally take the plunge. Today the mood in San Pedro is sombre as a skydiving accident on Ambergris Caye has left an American visitor dead. Around noon, forty-five year old Chad Zielinksi and fifteen other skydivers took off in this DeHavilland Twin Otter and ascended to thirteen thousand feet. Fellow passengers report that when Zielinksi left the plane he was fine but at some point during his drop, his parachute did not open. He crashed into the sea at more than a hundred miles an hour. A search and rescue mission was immediately launched, but around two thirty this afternoon, his lifeless body was pulled from the deep waters. The corpse was airlifted to the municipal airstrip in Belize City and later transferred to the morgue at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where a post mortem will be conducted. Friends on board the plane with the California native describe him as an experienced skydiver who had successfully made at least one other jump this morning. Zielinksi and his wife arrived with a group of international skydivers last Thursday as part of an annual event coordinated by Tsunami Skydivers of the U.S.A. Investigators say they will now try to ascertain exactly what caused Zielinksi’s parachute to remain closed.