A Ukrainian man who traveled to Marion County for a World War II-style parachute jump died in an accident Friday in Dunnellon.
The man has been identified as 49-year-old Dmytro Zinchenko, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. He is originally from Ukraine and was a former member of the Ukraine Army, but had been most recently living in Italy.
Zinchenko was a jump master and had registered 147 military jumps in his career.
He had been kneeling by the jump door when his emergency parachute accidentally deployed, pulling him from the plane. Witnesses said he hit the side of the plane and then fell to the ground.
He had registered to jump through National Parachute Test Center, Inc. of Dunnellon.