Skydiving trainer killed, student hurt, in Miss.

LUMBERTON, Miss. A skydiving trainer was killed and his student seriously injured when their equipment malfunctioned during a jump in southern Mississippi.

The owner of Golf Coast Skydivers, the facility which orchestrated the jump, told CBS affiliate WHLT-TV in Hattiesburg, Miss., that trainer James Horak, Jr., was attached to a student for a tandem jump when he was killed.

Lamar County Emergency Management Director James Smith told the Hattiesburg American newspaper the surviving skydiver has been transported to a hospital with fractures to his extremities and possible head injuries.

"Jimmy is the nicest guy that a person could ever know," said Leanne Igo, owner of Gold Coast Skydivers.

Igo said the two were part of a group of 20 that went for a jump around 10:30 a.m. Saturday. When they did not return with the rest of the group, a helicopter was dispatched to search for them. After three hours, authorities were contacted to assist in the search.

They were found after several hours in a swampy area about a mile from the airport.

Igo said Horak was from Pensacola, Fla., and he flew in at times to help out with the skydiving. She said he was married with three children.