A paratrooper was injured and sent to a military hospital in Kaohsiung yesterday, after strong winds blew her and her colleagues off the target area during a parachute jump.
Military officials confirmed Corporal Lee Ting-hsuan (李亭儇) of the army’s airborne special operation force was taken by ambulance to Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital for medical treatment with a fractured leg after yesterday morning’s training jump went awry.
Lee with her 10-member airborne unit were parachute training for next Saturday’s open house at the Republic of China Military Academy, in Kaohsiung’s Fongshan District (鳳山).
Lo Chen-chun (駱貞俊), commanding officer at the paratrooper training center in southern Taiwan, said Lee, 29, is the youngest female member in the nation’s airborne special operation force.
She has been in the military for nine years, and started paratrooper training two years ago, Lo said, adding that Lee already had more than 100 jumps under her belt.
Lo said the unit boarded a military transport aircraft at Pingtung Air Base yesterday morning, and jumped 2,438m to practice for a performance next Saturday.
According to reports, weather conditions were favorable for parachute jumps, but while the paratroopers were in the air, a freak southerly wind blew most of them off the target area.
Five paratroopers landed safely near an elementary school, but Lee, who weighs less than the other members of her unit, was blown into a residential area, about 1km from the military academy.
Lo said Lee opened her parachute, but was forced to land on the roof of a three-story residential building and fractured her left leg, also sustaining minor cuts and abrasions to her head.
“Lee weighs less than 60kg, while most of her unit members are about 70kg. She was carried further astray when the wind blew unexpectedly during the parachute jump session,” Lo said.
He added that four members of the unit, likely not hit by the wind’s full force, landed at the military academy’s target area.
Lee is conscious and is expected to make a full recovery, Lo said.
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