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1 person killed, another injured in skydiving accident

LUMBERTON, Miss., Aug. 4 (UPI) -- One person was killed and another injured in a skydiving accident in Lumberton, Miss., officials said.

The two skydivers jumped in tandem during a flight before noon on Saturday when their equipment malfunctioned, the Hattiesburg (Miss.) American reported.

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Lamar County Emergency Management Director James Smith said that when the skydivers failed to show up at at local airport, a search for the missing skydivers began.

"What they [Gold Coast Skydivers] do is give them a couple of hours to land and walk out to the airport, but when they realized there was an equipment malfunction they started looking for them immediately," he said. "They had been looking for them for a few hours before they called us."

"It has been confirmed that we have one fatality and the other person was transported by LifeFlight to Forrest General," Smith said. "His condition is not known at this time, but he has some fractures to his extremities, and in talking to the sheriff [Danny Rigel]; there was the possibility of some head injuries as well."

The identities of the skydivers have not been released.

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