Skydiver's tragic mistake

The daughter of newsreader Carol Barnes plunged 14,000 feet to her death because her parachute was not packed properly, an interim report into the accident found today.

The Australian Parachute Federation (APF), which has been investigating the incident, blamed poor gear maintenance and incorrect packing of the parachutes for 24-year-old Clare Barnes's death.

Miss Barnes, whose father is Foreign Office minister Denis MacShane, was likely to have packed her equipment herself, according to the APF.

The dramatic development came as her family paid a moving tribute to Miss Barnes at the spot where she died last Sunday.

She was killed when attempting her 200th jump with her boyfriend and seven other members of a skydiving club near Melbourne.

Graeme Windsor, the APF's national safety and operations manager, said the chain of events that led to her death began with the incorrect packing of the pilot chute, which is used to drag the main parachute from its pack.

He said: "Because the pilot chute was not packed properly it did not produce enough drag."

The report said: "When Clare activated her main parachute release at the correct altitude, she experienced a high-speed malfunction.

"It appears that Clare then followed correct emergency procedures by pulling the main parachute release system, followed by the reserve ripcord.

"Unfortunately, the main parachute did not release as it should have, and the reserve parachute became entangled with it, preventing either parachute from opening correctly."

The club had organised Ms Barnes's 200th skydive, which began with a successful nine-person circular "flat flying" discipline at 14,000 feet.

But Clare's parachute failed. As she struggled to rectify the problem, she twisted and turned and her main parachute wrapped around her body - preventing her emergency back-up reserve chute from deploying properly.

Just 21 seconds and 4,000 feet later, Clare was dead.

Today, Mr MacShane, Carol and James were accompanied by Clare's skydiving boyfriend, former Australian champion Chris McDougall as they stood for 10 minutes among the knee-high sun-scorched brown grass of the farmer's field which claimed her life. Bunches of white daisies scattered across the ground marked the spot where she died.

He spent several hours last night consoling Clare's parents at his home in the Melbourne suburb of Kensington and explaining how the special skydive had ended in tragedy.

Mr McDougall, who works as an instructor and tandem skydiver at the club, has not been at work since the accent. Friends said he is still too traumatised by seeing his girlfriend die in front of him.