Skydiver spends hours in tree after jump takes drastic turn

DUNSTABLE, Mass. — Rescuers spent hours Sunday trying to figure out a plan to get a skydiver out of a tree in Dunstable after a jump took a turn mid-air.

“It was pure, dumb luck,” Aatif Rathod said. “I just happened to win the lottery today.”

While some may rely on luck when it comes to winning the lottery, Rathod said he never thought he would credit it with saving his life.

“Being in the tree was probably the longest skydive I’ve had,” he said.

Rathod has been skydiving for about five years, and Sunday started off like any other, until it took a turn mid-air.

“I was flying a wingsuit, and I couldn’t reach my pull handle,” Rathod said.

After a few attempts, he went to his emergency parachute, but that got twisted.

“I couldn’t control the parachute,” he said. “It was spinning up in the air and landed backwards in the tree.”

He somehow managed to land upright in a branch, and he remained there for hours until his friends found him and a local family heard him screaming for help.

Rathod eventually was able to make it back on the ground and was able to walk away from the entire ordeal.

As for his incredible luck – “I might as well buy a Powerball ticket to see if (luck) strikes twice,” he said.

Cox Media Group