One Skydiver Dead, Another Injured After Midair Collision

A team jump over rural Washington ended in tragedy on Sunday when two veteran skydivers collided in the air, killing one and injuring the other, authorities say. The Adams County Sheriff's Office says 11 people were participating in the jump near Ritzville, about 200 miles east of Seattle, when the parachutes of Randy Hubbs and Nicole Klein made contact roughly 1,000 feet above the ground, per NBC News. A statement from Skydive West Plains said neither jumper appeared to realize how close they were before the impact, which the sheriff's office says left Hubbs "incapacitated" and drifting away from the landing area, per ABC News. Hubbs, 70, was found dead at the scene.

Klein, 52, who was also described as highly experienced, was hospitalized with undisclosed injuries. The company says Hubbs had more than 800 prior jumps and Klein more than 900, and police say that weather doesn't appear to have played a role in the collision. Skydive West Plains called Hubbs a longtime member of its "drop zone family" and said its thoughts are also with Klein as she recovers. The Independent notes that Hubbs had been a real estate broker with Equity 1st Home Group for almost a decade, per his social media profile; before that, he was said to have been a longtime music instructor at Columbia Basin College. The sheriff's office says an investigation is ongoing.