Woman in California dies after her parachute failed to fully open

LODI, Calif. - A woman in California has died after her parachute failed to fully open as she was falling to the ground and it became tangled around her, police said.

The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office said the woman died on Saturday at the Lodi Parachute Center. The woman was not identified.

"What was reported to us from someone who witnessed the (incident)… was that the chute failed to fully open as she was coming down and it was heavily tangled around her," the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office said.

Police did not provide a cause of death. They said the woman was "very experienced."

The FAA said they are investigating the incident, but focusing on the parachute rigging.

"Federal Aviation Administration investigations of skydiving events are limited to inspecting the parachute rigging. The FAA does not investigate to determine the cause of the event," the FAA said in a statement.

This accident comes one month after this same parachute center was ordered to pay $40 million in connection with a deadly jump there five years ago.

An 18-year-old was killed in 2016 after his parachute didn't open, and, it was later determined his instructor was not properly certified. 

Since 1999, more than a dozen other deadly jumps have also been connected to the skydiving center.
 

• Central California skydiving school to pay $40M over death of 18-year-old
• California skydiving teacher in fatal jump was uncertified

KCRA contributed to this report. This story was reported from Lodi and Sacramento.