Water rescue following Queenstown skydiving incident

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Water rescue following Queenstown skydiving incident

January 11, 2018

Recreation / Safety / Tourism /

One man has been rescued and taken to hospital with minor injuries while another is still missing after tandem skydivers crashed in Queenstown's Lake Wakatipu yesterday afternoon.

Police advised that emergency services were contacted at 1.42pm with a report that the tandem skydivers had landed in the Lake.

11 boats, a number of jetskis and planes were involved in the rescue of one of the skydivers, believed to be the instructor. However, as of early evening, Police, LandSAR and the Coastguard ended their search of the Lake and its shoreline.

A Police spokesperson advised "all searching will be suspended overnight and Police will make an assessment on the situation from 9am tomorrow."

The spokesperson continued "one person has been recovered from the water and taken to hospital.

"A search is under way for the other person."

The skydiving activity was being operated by NZONE Skydive, a subsidiary of Australian-based adventure tourism company Experience Co which runs Skydive Mission Beach in Queensland and more than a dozen other skydiving operations in Australia.

After the incident, NZONE Skydive Business Development Manager Derek Melnick told the Otago Daily Times "there has been an incident and it's currently being investigated as we speak (and) the Police are on site."

Melnick said the company was in the middle of preparing a statement, but was not yet "100% clear" about what had occurred.

Image: Lake Wakatipu

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