South Dakota woman with 1,700 jumps joins a dive at Skydive Elsinore. Everything is normal until she is 150 feet from the ground

Georgia Jean, 56, of Box Elder, South Dakota, and Levi Pimentel, 29, of Aurora, Illinois, died following a skydiving accident Friday at Skydive Elsinore in Lake Elsinore, California, according to CNN.

The two were participating in an organized group skydiving session and held valid skydiving licenses, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office.

Jean had completed more than 1,700 jumps since taking up the sport in 2015, according to a bio she posted. The two skydivers collided while under canopy as they prepared to land, causing their parachutes to become entangled. Both sustained critical injuries in the crash and later died at a hospital.

Skydive Elsinore describes normal free fall and parachute openings before the midair collision

Skydive Elsinore said the free-fall portion of the dive and the opening of the parachutes went as expected. The collision occurred in later stages, when the divers were less than 200 feet from the ground.

“Eyewitnesses report that the freefall portion of the jump was normal and uneventful, and that both skydivers opened their parachutes at the expected altitude,” Skydive Elsinore told NBC News. “As they prepared to land, the two skydivers collided at approximately 150 feet above the ground,” it added. Officials pronounced them dead after they arrived at the hospital.

The Riverside County Fire Department reported that the skydivers suffered traumatic injuries. Crews transported them to a local hospital in critical condition.

Jean founded Circle Evolution. The company’s website states that it “is the collaboration between conscious channel Georgia Jean and the non-physical collective The Circle of Light.”

Pimentel was listed on LinkedIn as a lead instructor at iFLY Naperville, an indoor skydiving company. The accident took place at about noon Friday. Heights have caused other emergencies in Illinois, including an Illinois electrician trapped 130 feet up.

The sheriff’s office said the Federal Aviation Administration was notified. Investigators will collect the parachutes as part of their review. Parachute problems can end very differently, as one woman who survived a 14,500-foot parachute failure shows.

The US Parachute Association reports that in 2025, members made 3.47 million skydives and there were 16 fatalities. The organization said 5.6% of members reported suffering an injury that required medical treatment, with the most common being ankle injuries during landings.