Skydiver dies, another injured in Perris incident

One person has died, and another person suffered critical injuries while skydiving on Thursday afternoon in the City of Perris, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.

Crews responded to a rural area at 600 E. Ellis Avenue just before 2 p.m.

One patient was declared dead at the scene, and the other was transported to a hospital with critical injuries. A third parachutist landed uninjured.

The facility, Skydive Perris, said the three people were a group of friends "from overseas" and "all very experienced jumpers with hundreds of skydives."

"They were jumping their own equipment by themselves," Skydive Perris said in a statement. "None were doing tandem jumps."

The company added that "it appears there may have been a collision in freefall" that caused the skydiver's death and the serious injuries to the other.