Woman, 44, dies in skydiving accident in Oklahoma

Police say the victim’s parachute opened but that she had an “unknown issue” during her jump

An Oklahoma woman died after spinning out of control and crashing into the ground during a solo skydive (5NEWS)

An Oklahoma woman died after spinning out of control and crashing into the ground during a solo skydive.

Police say that Heather Glasgow, 44, died at the hospital after the fatal accident took place in Sallisaw on Saturday.

Investigators say that the victim’s parachute had opened but that she experienced “an unknown issue” during the skydive.

“Witnesses stated her parachute had fully deployed, but she was in a spin that she did not recover out of,” the Sallisaw Police Department posted on Facebook over the weekend. “Emergency services tended to her very quickly after the incident and she was transported to Northeastern Health Systems Sequoyah for further treatment.”

Glasgow, of Poteau, Oklahoma, had earlier completed a tandem jump before her fatal solo jump. Police say that the jumps took place out of the Adventure Skydive Center in Sallisaw.

Sallisaw is located near the Arkansas state line and around 150 miles east of Oklahoma City.

The Federal Aviation Administration says it is assisting in the investigation and will probe the packing of the main and reserve parachutes. Local authorities are in charge of the other elements of the investigation.

“The body, that was on that parachute, was just spinning in circles,” eyewitness Roland Preston told 5NEWS. “I mean it was completely sideways. I feel like they were already unconscious in the air. Because if they would have been responsive in the air, they would’ve been kicking their legs. They would have been trying to fight with their arms to control the parachute.”

And he added: “It bothered us so badly. I wanted to be able to do something for the individual. But there was nothing I could do at all except call 911.”