Parasailer killed in beer commercial tragedy
January 22, 2004 Edition -1
Gustav Thiel
An experienced stuntman has died in a freak accident during the filming of a beer commercial.
The incident occurred on the Theewaterskloof Dam, near Villiersdorp in the Western Cape.
The stunt involved the parasailer, Graham Hoal (50), being towed behind a speedboat and getting his lines tangled in a moving truck on a bridge over the dam.
The truck would then have towed him to a truckstop, where both the driver and parasailer would have shared a beer.
"Preliminary reports suggest that a wind shift might have caused him to get his trajectory wrong, pushing him into the truck," said Velocity Films managing director Barry Munchick.
He said Hoal was "given CPR on site and was subsequently airlifted by helicopter for emergency treatment. He died shortly afterwards."
Munchick said that according to the stunt co-ordinators, this was not a difficult stunt for a skydiver of Hoal's experience, who had completed more than 5 000 jumps.
"An on-site stunt co-ordinator was in charge of ensuring safety on set and had the final decision to go ahead," he said.
"Wind checks had shown the wind speed was well within safety limits. The police investigation includes a climatologist analysing the wind patterns and a parachute specialist investigating whether there was equipment failure.
"But at this point we have no facts as to the exact cause of the accident."
