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2 Skydivers Found Off Oahu Shore; 1 Dead

POSTED: 11:42 am HST January 6, 2006
UPDATED: 3:55 pm HST January 6, 2006

Emergency teams found two unresponsive people who were skydiving off of Oahu's north shore Friday morning.

The two people were skydiving as a tandem. Emergency teams found a 33-year-old woman from Hokkaido, Japan and her male instructor on the reef more than 200 yards off shore from Mokuleia Beach near Dillingham Airfield, officials said.

The chutes deployed normally, but the pair missed the drop zone at the airfield, officials at Sky Dive Hawaii said.

Lifeguards and fire crews tried to free the skydivers from the tangled lines and jagged reef, officials said. The teams took the skydivers to shore and performed CPR.

Paramedics worked on the injured pair and took them to Wahiawa General Hospital for further treatment. Officials did not have the conditions of the two patients.

Sky Dive Hawaii's president identified the instructor as Max Mueller, 69. He was pronounced dead at the hospital at 11:25 a.m. Hospital officials said the woman was in "very critical condition" in the intensive care unit.

The woman's boyfriend had also jumped just before her. It was the second flight on Friday for the company. The jump was the woman's first skydiving experience.

The president said Mueller was an "extremely experienced skydiver" who was a retired German military officer. Mueller worked for the company for eight years. He spent half of the year in Germany and the other half in Hawaii.