A team of experienced skydivers, some of whom are former paramedics, provided immediate assistance at a plane crash they witnessed in Wisconsin. The skydivers jumped directly to the scene to treat a seriously injured victim before ground-based rescue crews could arrive.
The incident occurred on Sunday near East Troy when a single-engine plane carrying four people crashed in a cornfield. Occupants of a Skydive Milwaukee aircraft, preparing for recreational jumping, observed the crash.
John Bechtel, a veteran skydiver and former paramedic, along with two colleagues, decided to jump to the crash site after alerting authorities. One of the jumpers, also a former paramedic, helped a woman with a serious head injury until an EMT crew arrived. Officials in Walworth county reported that three passengers were taken to hospital, and the fourth was treated at the scene; all are expected to survive.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has opened an inquiry into the cause of the crash, with an investigator arriving at the site on Sunday afternoon.