Skydiver Rescued in Mid-Air After Suffering Seizure

ABCNews.com(SYDNEY) — The tense moments when a skydiver fell unconscious in mid-air were all caught on camera.

The skydiver, 22-year-old Christopher Jones, was doing a routine training dive to become a skydive instructor when he jumped from a plane 12,000 feet over Western Australia.

At 9,000 feet, Jones suddenly fell unconscious as he suffered a seizure in mid-air.

For 30 terrifying seconds, Jones, who suffers from epilepsy but believed his condition was under control, plummeted towards the ground at 124 miles per hour.

Jones, who was visibly convulsing during his descent, fell further and further away from his instructor, Sheldon McFarlane.

Just as Jones reached 4,000 feet, a quick-thinking McFarlane was able to reach Jones and pull his ripcord, releasing Jones’ parachute.

“I was just glad to get to him, stop him turning and make sure he had a parachute above his head,” said McFarlane, an instructor at the West Australia Skydiving Academy.

Jones said he regained consciousness another 1,000 feet after the rescue, at around 3,000 feet.

“Then the next thing I know I wake up at 3,000 feet, thankfully underneath a fully inflated parachute,” he said.

The near-death accident occurred last November while Jones was on stage five of what he calls the school’s Accelerated Free Fall program. He posted the video of his fall on YouTube Sunday, where it has already been viewed nearly four million times.

“He’s a hero. He’s a massive hero,” Jones said of McFarlane.

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