A woman has died after a skydiving accident at Auckland's Muriwai Beach on Thursday.
Skydive Auckland says the woman was taking part in a nine-way formation with a group of experienced recreational sport parachutists.
Two of them collided in freefall.
The victim was knocked out, and her parachute was deployed by another skydiver. She landed in the water but despite the best efforts of police, the Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter and Muriwai Surf Club, she could not be revived.
The other parachutist suffered minor injuries and landed on the beach.
Tony Green, chief executive of Skydive Auckland, said they were "deeply saddened by the loss of our friend, who will be truly missed".
“The New Zealand skydiving community is very small and tight-knit and this tragedy has had a significant impact on our skydiving family. We have organised ongoing support for all involved and have extended our condolences to the next of kin.”
Muriwai Beach's head lifeguard Glenn Gowthorpe told 1News a local surfer had grabbed another surfer and that they rushed out to save the woman on a jetski. She was "some way off the coast", about 1.5km from the beach, towards the reef.
The sun was setting at the time and Gowthorpe said there was only about 15 minutes of daylight left.
He grabbed one of the lifesaving club's jetski's and raced after the pair with another lifeguard. The pair, who had reached the woman first, had CPR underway when Gowthorpe reached them.
The police Eagle helicopter had helped to guide the jet skis to the woman.
The lifeguards cut away the woman's parachute and harness, which Gowthorpe described as "full of water and really heavy".
Gowthorpe and the other lifeguard took over CPR and put the woman on their jetski's sled and rushed back to shore.
"It was an amazing community response," Gowthorpe reflected.
Katy Guildford and Michael Barnett told 1News they were leaving the water after a surf when they noticed a couple of flags on the beach.
They said they need noticed about 20 to 30 parachutes "circling around" above.
The pair said they thought they saw a person floating out to the water and that they were far out.
The pair went for a shower and came back outside to find a plane circling around and not too soon after a siren going off.
Two helicopters could later be seen, they said, and they saw an IRB out on the water.
"That's when we started realising this person definitely didn't land in the ocean on purpose," Guildford said.
"We were starting to get a bit worried for them."
Both WorkSafe and the Civil Aviation Authority have been notified.
The incident will be referred to the coroner.
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