Woman survives skydive after parachute fails to open

A 30-year-old experienced woman skydiver in Canada miraculously survived a 4,900 feet fall and crashed into trees after her parachute failed to open. She survived the fatal fall with several fractures, including broken vertebrae, local police told.

According to reports in MSN, the woman was at a skydiving centre in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, on August 10 and had jumped off an airplane. Unfortunately, her parachute malfunctioned and failed to open and she plunged over 4,900 feet. One witness, Denis Demers, who saw the woman falling from an airplane said that neither the main parachute nor the emergency back-up had opened.

"It's a miracle. I don't know how a person can survive a fall from an airplane like that," Demers told Radio-Canada.

While another woman skydiver, Oceane Duplessis, who witnessed the horrifying fall, said she was getting ready to get on another plane when she saw the woman falling.

"We watched all the way to the end. We kept hoping something would happen. We were very worried. Very," Duplessis was quoted as saying in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Police are investigating the incident to see if there was any criminal negligence.