MTV star Erik Roner died in a skydiving accident. (Photo : YouTube)
Erik Roner, the extreme sports star, has died in a freak accident during a skydive for the opening ceremony of a golf event in Squaw Valley on Sept. 28, Monday. He was 39.
The MTV star was performing at an Olympic County, California, a resort golf event when the tragic accident happened. He was trying to land when he was caught in tree and got entangled high above the ground, Variety reported.
Rescue personnel have to remove the MTV star from the tree, but he had died by the time. The death is still under investigation to rule out any foul play.,,
Roy Tuscany, a friend of Roner, who was present at the site, claimed that as the skydiving event started, after the safe landing of two other divers, Roner was noticed to be hit by a tree, 25-30ft above the ground.
It turned out that Roner's parachute was caught in the tree's branches. While he was seen dangling helplessly from the tree, many on the grounds scrambled to help him out by using ladders and standing on each other's shoulders to reach him.
"There's no protocol for this kind of rescue," Tuscany told The Guardian. "There's no manual. It was just horrible."
Originally from Tahoe City, the "Nitro Circus" star was known for his penchant and expertise in extreme sports. He had been skydiving and BASE jumping for well over 15 years. He had performed several stunts in his life time including the one in which he tied himself to 90 helium balloons and flew through the air sitting on a lawn chair a la the movie "Up."
