Skydiver Survives 15,000-Foot Freefall

It's more than journalistic hyberbole to say a skydiving instructor in New Zealand is lucky to be alive, after his main and reserve 'chutes failed during a 15,000-foot dive last week.

MSNBC reports Michael Holmes, 25, landed in a dense blackberry bush less than 300 feet from a parking lot after his main parachute apparently became tangled.

"When the second parachute didn’t open, I realized it was all over," Holmes told The Times of London from his hospital bed. "I was going to die. You don’t have much time to say goodbye."

"The next thing I saw were friends, firemen, ambulances and police dogs."

The accident occurred near Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand. Holmes suffered a punctured lung and a broken ankle in the ordeal.

The entire fall -- and the landing -- was captured by a helmet-mounted video camera Holmes was wearing to tape a group of skydivers. Police and the New Zealand Parachute Industry Association will investigate the incident.

Meanwhile, Taupo Tandem Skydiving manager Hamish Funnell told the Daily Telegraph Holmes was in good spirits at the hospital... "cracking jokes and hassling the nurses."

FMI: www.taupotandemskydiving.com/