Young Skydiver Killed Instantly After Plane Wing Struck His Neck

A 21-year-old skydiver died in a freak accident after he was struck in the neck by a plane’s wing during a jump gone horribly wrong, investigators said.

Martin Brachet was killed on May 24 in Frétoy-le-Château, a commune in northern France, after a fatal miscommunication between the pilot and the team on board the aircraft.

According to investigators, the pilot did not know that a second person was about to jump.

Officials with the French Parachuting Federation later described the tragedy as the result of “a blatant lack of communication.”

Federation president Yves-Marie Guillau said there were two jumps planned that day. The pilot reportedly leveled the plane into position and turned on the green light, signaling that the jumpmaster could allow the first skydiver to exit.

But after the first jump, the pilot believed that portion of the jump was over.

He turned off the green light, accelerated the plane and pulled back on the stick to gain altitude.

That was the moment Brachet jumped.

“He was hit in the neck by the plane’s rear wing and died instantly,” Guillau said, according to GB News.

Brachet’s reserve parachute deployed after the impact, but there was nothing anyone could do by the time he reached the ground.

“This lack of information proved fatal,” Guillau said.

The federation president said the tragedy was especially painful because, in his view, no one set out to be careless.

“It’s unbearable because everyone did their job,” he said. “It came down to mere seconds.”

Guillau added that the deadly accident could have been avoided in more than one way.

“If the parachutist had exited while the plane was stable, it wouldn’t have happened,” he said. “If the pilot had known there was a second parachutist, it wouldn’t have happened either. There are so many ‘ifs.’”

He called the accident “doubly tragic.”

Skydive Frétoy, the organization that operated the jump, has since been ordered to stop operations until June 30 while officials review what happened.

The French Parachuting Federation and Skydive Frétoy did not immediately respond to requests for comment from PEOPLE.