A sky diving instructor appears to have deliberately positioned his body to ensure that a teenager’s fall was cushioned when a fair gust of wind hit the pair just seconds before they were set to hit the ground.
Skydiving instructor Tony Rokov, who had completed more than 5000 jumps, reportedly wrapped his legs and arms around the 14-year-old to protect him from the full impact.
Rokov reportedly died instantly. The boy is now recovering at the Westmead Children’s Hospital.
A witness told Nine News: “This whole damn great wind shear came through and just collapsed the parachutes, and they just dropped to the ground.”
Tony Rokov. Source: Facebook/Tony Rokov
A married father of two from Cronulla, 44-year-old Rokov was a highly experienced skydiver, formerly employed as a Parachute Jump Instructor and Air Operations Manager in the Army.
Yaakov Bokay, a Head Instructor at Adrenaline Skydive, saud the accident was “a freak thing to happen”.
He said the pair “were almost on the ground and then the wind came along and pushed them to the right and they just smashed into the ground.”
Ben Cerini, a 27-year-old postgraduate student from Victoria described his own experience with the company to Mamamia as “very welcoming, made me feel very at ease. Made me feel very safe.”
He continued that Saturday’s events were “tragic”, saying he felt “shocked, because when you’re in the moment it doesn’t feel like anything could go wrong.”
“They’ve done hundreds if not thousands of jumps. They can jump three, four times a day. You just never feel that’s going to happen to you.”
