05 August,2011 07:53 AM IST | | Agencies
A 29-year-old skydiver escaped a 3,500 feet fall with only a broken ankle after both her parachutes failed to open properly.
Zoe Sievwright knew something had gone wrong not long after she jumped out of the plane when the main parachute failed to open.
The Scottish woman who was skydiving as a tribute to a local woman who died of a brain tumour last year cut away the canopy and deployed her reserve parachute.
But when she looked up, she discovered, much to her horror, that it had gotten tangled up in the main one.
"I was searching for toggles to pull but there weren't any," said Sievwright.
"I just thought that was it because there was nothing else I could do. I didn't think I was going to make it... I thought I was dead."
She revealed that the last thing she remembers before hitting the ground was bracing for impact. "There was a bit of shock but I didn't black out," she said.
"I was just lying on the ground and I kind of nudged myself into the recovery position and waited," she added.
After being carried to an ambulance, Sievwright was taken to the hospital where they performed surgery on her broken ankle.
According to her stepmother, Joan Sibwright, she is recovering well but is 'really traumatised'.
Kieran Brady, chairman of Skydive Strathallan, denied there were any problems with the parachutes.
"The reserve parachute opened successfully, but Zoe did not remove the steering toggles and flare the
canopy as she should have done," he said.
