Two skydivers suffered major injuries in Lake Elsinore on Friday morning, and firefighters rushed both of them to ground ambulances for further medical care. The incident was reported at 11:49 a.m. in the 20700 block of Cereal Street, a stretch of road that sits near Skylark Field Airport, a hub for the area's skydiving operations.
Firefighters Respond to Traumatic Injuries Call
According to CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire Department
, firefighters arrived on scene to find traumatic injuries involving the two skydivers. The department said in its post that both patients suffered major injuries and were transported by ground ambulance for further care, and that no other injuries were reported in connection with the incident.
The fire department's social media feed describes itself as the official incident and safety message site for CAL FIRE and the Riverside County Fire Department, though it notes the page is not actively monitored and directs anyone with an emergency to call 9-1-1 rather than seek a response through social media.
What Led to the Injuries Remains Unclear
It is not yet known what caused the two skydivers to suffer their injuries during Friday's incident. A separate, prior report on a Lake Elsinore skydiving injury noted that further details about what led to those injuries were not immediately available, according to Patch, and the same uncertainty applies to Friday's incident given the limited information released so far.
Friday's report does not name a specific skydiving business or confirm that the jump originated from a particular facility, though the Cereal Street address places the incident in the same general area as Skylark Field Airport, long associated with Lake Elsinore's skydiving activity.
Other Skydiving Injuries in the Area
This is not the first time skydivers have been hurt coming down in Lake Elsinore. In January, a parachutist was described as critically injured after a hard landing near Corydon Road and Plessner Way, according to The Press-Enterprise, which reported that the person's intended landing zone was at Skydive Elsinore but that they came down just west of it. That same report also noted that the Riverside County Fire Department described the injuries as minor to moderate, a notable discrepancy from the account's characterization of the parachutist as critically injured.
Back in 2019, two skydivers were injured after landing on top of a building in the 20000 block of Cereal Street, adjacent to Skylark Field Airport, the outlet reported at the time. One of those skydivers suffered moderate injuries and the other had minor injuries, and both were hospitalized, Cal Fire told the paper. A separate account of a Lake Elsinore skydiving jump was reported by Patch on December 6, 2020, describing an incident on December 5, 2020, in which two people were hurt, one seriously. KCRA similarly described a case in which two skydivers landed on a building roof in an industrial park near Skylark Field Airport, with one suffering moderate injuries and the other minor injuries.
Skydiving accidents, while dramatic when they happen, are statistically rare. The United States Parachute Association recorded 24 fatal skydiving accidents nationwide in 2017 out of roughly 3.2 million jumps, according to KCRA, a single-year figure that doesn't by itself establish a broader trend in the sport.
No information has been released about the identities, ages, or current conditions of the two skydivers hurt Friday, nor has a receiving hospital been named. Hoodline will update this story as more information becomes available.
