UPDATE: Skydiver injured at Vernon Airport

VERNON – A skydiver was taken to hospital after an accident at the Vernon Airport yesterday afternoon.

The man lost control while skydiving and hit one of the chain link boundary fences around the airport at about 3 p.m., Friday, June 26, according to Vernon Fire Rescue.

Bret Chalmers with Okanagan Skydive says there was a “conflict” with two parachutes close to the ground. One of the skydivers swerved to avoid it and hit the fence.

“He was taken to hospital as a precaution because his bell got rung a little bit, but it ended up there was nothing serious,” he says.

Chalmers says this kind of accident is unusual.

“Somebody made a poor choice and a bit of mistake regarding landing patterns and that’s what caused the conflict and the incident,” he says. “We are always working to make sure these things don’t happen but human error can be a factor.”

Chalmers says the people involved in the “conflict” have had thorough briefings and been retrained.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Howard Alexander at halexander@infonews.ca. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

— This story was updated at 11:03 a.m., Saturday, June 27, 2015 to add information from Okanagan Skydive.