A man who died in a parachute fall was a videographer working for a skydiving firm, the business has said.
Sky-High Skydiving, which operates out of Shotton Airfield in County Durham, confirmed that the person who died on Saturday was staff and not “a one-off charity jumper”.
The man, believed to be in his 40s, was pronounced dead at the scene on 27 April.
The company said it was “deeply saddened by the loss of a close friend, colleague and talented member of our team, our skydiving family”.
“So please bear with us during this difficult time,” the statement added.
It said it would remain closed until Friday following the incident and was working with Durham Police and British Skydiving to investigate what happened.
The company says on social media that it specialises “in making people into skydivers, with tandem and accelerated freefall experiences”.
Emergency services were called to the South West industrial estate, near Peterlee, at 12.30pm on Saturday following the incident.
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Police said they are treating the death as unexpected.
Detective Chief Inspector Mel Sutherland said: “Officers are keen to speak to anyone who was travelling on the A19 at around 12.20pm to 12.30pm who may have mobile phone or dashcam footage which captures the moments leading up to the incident.
“Our thoughts remain with the man’s family at this time.”
