Skydiver Dives Into Dye Family's Dyed Easter Egg Hunt, Dies
A 49-year-old New York man fell to his death after his parachute failed to open while he was skydiving. He landed in a backyard in Washington Township, N.J. around 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon, right as the family next door was in the middle of an Easter egg hunt.
Arkady Shenker was an experienced skydiver with 350 jumps under his belt. On Sunday, he was with a group of 15, run by Monroe Township, N.J.-based Freefall Adventures. Gloucester County officials and the FAA are investigating what caused his "wing suit"-style parachute to fail—it's unclear whether Shenker made a mistake or the suit itself malfunctioned.
The Dye family, who were shocked to see Shenker drop in during their egg hunt, rushed to help.
"I saw the jumpers. Then I noticed one and he kind of looked like he wasn't conscious, he was just spinning," Annie Marie Dye told ABC 6.
"He put a dent in the ground about [a foot] deep," another neighbor said.
Shenker was taken to Kennedy Hospital, where he was pronounced dead just after 3:30 p.m.
He's not the first skydiver to lose his life during a Freefall Adventures jump. In 2011, Scott Shields, the mayor of Rutledge, Pa., died on a jump with the same company. After Shields failed to pull his chute in time, the automatic backup chute didn't open all the way.
