British Army sergeant with the “Red Devils”A parachute display team plunged 3,500ft to their deaths during a Spanish training exercise on Friday. New York Post reported.
The parachute of Sgt. Dean Walton somehow got entangled in another jumper’s chute, causing his canopy to collapse, the Post reported.
Once Walton, who has over 2,000 jumps to his name, landed, paramedics were on scene to do everything they could to save him, but he was pronounced dead on site, Central Recorder reported.
Nimsdai Purja, 39, a former Special Boat Service trooper and the jumper who collided with Walton in mid-air, posted about the incident on Facebook, according to News Australia.
“Dean and I were conducting canopy handling and stacking drills. We left the aircraft at 15,000ft and were under good canopies by 3,500ft. Dean approached and was positioned at 45 degrees directly behind and above,”He wrote. “This required deep brakes to stay in position and it is thought due to this Dean’s canopy stalled and collapsed, sending him through my canopy and entangling him within my lines. This sent us both into a severe spin and increased our fall rate dramatically. At this point I had no option but to cut away and pull my reserve.”
“I am devastated at the loss of Dean, who was super talented and loved what he did,”He concluded.
According to the New York Post, Walton served at least 17 years in the British Army. He was also deployed to Afghanistan four times.
According to SNBC13, he is survived by Shelby Walton and Stella Walton, his 1-year-old daughter.