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Skydiving shocker: How did this teenager survive a 3,500 foot fall?

Brad Matthews Contributor
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Texas teen Mackenzie Wethington miraculously survived a 3,500 foot fall during a skydiving accident.

Mackenzie Wethington had always dreamed of going skydiving, and went with her father for her 16th birthday on Saturday.

In most states, the minimum age is 18 and over, but Oklahoma allows 16-year-olds to skydive with parental consent.

Mackenzie ended up jumping immediately after her father, but her primary parachute did not open, according to local news station FOX-DFW.

Another man who was supposed to go after Mackenzie was too afraid, so the instructor stayed back and never followed the Wethingtons. Mackenzie’s father could only watch in horror as she fell to the Earth.

The owner of Chickasha, OK Pegasus Air Sports, Bob Swainson, alleges that the parachute opened completely and says that the fault lays not with the parachute but with Mackenzie herself, according to local Oklahoma news station NBC33 TV.

Miraculously, Mackenzie managed to survive the precipitous fall.

Her sister Meagan said “God caught her” as an explanation for Mackenzie’s survival. Mackenzie is reported to have suffered injuries to the back, ribs and pelvis, breaking her pelvic bone in two. Mackenzie is currently recovering at OU Medical Center.

The Wethingtons were reported to have gone through six hours of training before going skydiving.

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Tags : skydiving
Brad Matthews