“Dust devils” may have contributed to the tragic death of a skydiving instructor in California, leaving a student hospitalized. During a routine skydive on August 2nd, Skydive Perris instructor Devrey LaRiccia Chase, 28, and her student collided with “dust devils,” leading to a crash landing in Perris, California.
The pair was taken to the hospital for their injuries, where Chase was subsequently pronounced dead, according to KTLA 5 News.
Dust devils are swirling vortices of dust and debris that form under extremely hot conditions. They resemble small tornadoes that can ascend to heights of several thousand feet.
Devrey’s husband, Freddy Chase, a well-known skydiver with 418,000 followers on Instagram, stated in his Instagram Stories on Monday, August 5, that “there was no malfunction” leading up to the incident.
He explained that his wife was making her final jump of the day. She was maneuvering her canopy to safely land in the grass, a routine she had performed hundreds of times. It was then that she spotted the dust devils.
The Victims’s Husband Details How Dust Devils Turned a Routine Skydive Into Tragedy
“At 40 ft Devrey avoided one of them, but caught a second one,” he detailed. “With dust devil’s going over grass they become invisible because you can’t see any dust in the direction they’re going. It then sent her canopy in an uncontrolled spin to the ground.”
Freddy stated that his wife “was not in pain” and was “unconscious but breathing” immediately after the fall, prior to her being transported to the hospital.
In an interview with KTLA 5 News, he expressed that he and his wife shared a strong passion for skydiving. He noted that she had filmed most of his popular video content featuring his parachute jumps. According to the outlet, Chase and her husband relocated from Maine to California eight years ago.
“… You were an angel amongst us … having spent the 5 precious years with you was a gift, you made me a better man,” Freddy wrote in part on Instagram. “… Having to say goodbye to you for now will forever be the hardest thing I will ever do in my life.”
The family of Chase has created a GoFundMe page to raise funds for her transportation back to Maine. As of this writing, they’ve raised more than $56,000 toward a $75,000 goal.