Skydiver dies after collision in mid-air

A British champion skydiver who drowned off the Spanish coast on Friday was killed by a "one-in-a- million" accident rather than human error, according to a spokesman for the company that organised the jump.

Tamsin Causer, 32, drowned after landing in the sea when she was knocked unconscious in a mid-air collision with another skydiver.

A spokesman for Skydive Empuriabrava, said Miss Causer, from Newell Green in Berkshire, was knocked out when she collided with fellow skydiver Maria Russell over Empuriabrava, in north-eastern Spain. "It was very, very bad luck, a one-in-a-million chance," he said.

"As the skydivers were exiting the plane, Tamsin was knocked out, which made it impossible for her to fly her parachute. She landed in the sea. Tamsin was a very experienced skydiver. It was a freak accident," he added.

In February, Ms Causer became the first person to hold four world parachuting records at once when she was among 960 people involved in a mass freefall in Thailand.

Miss Causer's mother Hazel said yesterday: " My only comfort is that she died doing something she absolutely adored."