A 21-year-old Canadian TikTok influencer and beauty queen has died in a freak skydiving accident after her parachute failed to open. Tanya Pardazi, a Toronto University student who had earlier participated in Miss Canada, was said to have been taking part in her first solo jump skydive on Saturday in Innisfil, Ontario, when the accident happened.
Pardazi is believed to have tried to open her parachute a bit too late during the descent when tragedy struck. She had just completed a solo lesson at Skydive Toronto, and, according to CTV, this was her first solo jump. It is unclear why the main parachute didn't open.
Killed Tragically
Pardazi died on August 27 while skydiving in Toronto at Skydive Toronto. A philosophy student at Toronto University, Pardazi had successfully completed one course at Innisfil, Ontario's Skydive Toronto, qualifying her to make the tragic Saturday jump from 4,000 feet in the air on her own.
However, things go as she had expected. She opened the parachute at an altitude that was too low for it to fully expand, according to a report from The Mail Online reported on Friday. According to Skydive Toronto, Pardazi "released a quickly-rotating main parachute at a low altitude without the time or altitude required for the reserve parachute to inflate."
"The jumper was a welcomed recent addition to the skydiving community and will be missed amongst the student's new friends," Skydive Toronto said.
According to Skydive Ontario, Pardazi was instructed on how to switch to her backup parachute in the event that the primary one failed before she made the jump. Why the primary parachute didn't open is unknown.
Pardazi, who reached the semifinals of the 2017 Miss Teen Canada competition, was taken to the hospital right away and later declared dead.
A spokesperson for the South Simcoe Police Service announced in a statement that an investigation is currently underway to determine what happened.
Gone Too Soon
Melody Ozgoli, a friend of Pardazi, told CTV News Toronto that this was the first time that she was skydiving all alone. "Tanya had an interest in anything that was new and adventurous," Ozgoli said.
"Life was too boring for her and she was always trying to do something adventurous. She really lived every second to the fullest," she added.
Pardazi had 100k followers on TikTok, where she posted videos talking about a variety of topics, including ancient aliens, art history and animal science. Her most recent video, which was published on August 22, was about Tetris and a riddle that she solved using Adderall.
She first came to the limelight after competing in the Miss Canada beauty pageant, in 2017, where she made it into the semi-finals.
Whether Pardazi attempted the catastrophic skydiving act for a TikTok video is unknown.
She never seemed to have a dull moment, her friend Ozgoli's claimed. "This is the biggest shock to us. It's very hard to process. It's been a couple days, but we still don't believe it," she said.
Kimia Sepanlou, another friend, called Pardazi "one of the bravest girls. Whenever we saw her, we knew we were in for an adventure because she didn't like letting herself, or the people closest to her, get bored. Everyone who met her thought the world of her."
Pardazi's fans were equally shocked after learning news of her death. "Rest in Peace my friend,' one fan wrote. I'm sorry you were taken from us so soon. I hope afterlife is all that you imagined and more, until we meet again."
Another added, "I literally cannot believe she's gone. I've never met her but she's a huge inspiration for me."
Pardazi's death comes more than a month after a skydiver who died in an accident in southeast Brazil showed his final moments. On July 19, Andrius Jamaico, 38, perished after falling onto a house's roof in the Boituva area of So Paulo.
Video released by Brazilian network TV Globo showed businessman Jamaico getting instructions from Paulo Mirkai as they prepared to jump out of the plane together with other skydivers.
Jamaico exited the plane while Mirkai clung to his arm sleeve and leg and at one point confirmed with the instructor that he was aware of the location of the breakaway handle by touching the lever.
Jamaico, who had a camera installed on top of his helmet and had appeared to be in control before suddenly starting to spin around, is then released by the skydiving instructor. The teacher managed to catch Jamaico by the leg, but he was unable to keep it.
Jamaico, who was only doing his third skydive, kept spinning as the instructor opened his parachute and the ground landing location drew near. He plummeted to the ground from a height of about 6,500 feet after slamming against a zinc roof panel of the house. The authorities pronounced him dead there.
