Friends of the 21-year-old woman who died in a fatal skydiving accident in Innisfil, Ont., over the weekend say she was a “truly adventurous” person who will be missed.
The woman was identified by friends as Tanya Pardazi, a philosophy major at the University of Toronto.
“She was always in search of answers for the smallest and biggest problems in life, and she wouldn’t stop until she got them,” one close friend of Pardazi, told Global News.
The fatal skydiving accident took place around 5:40 p.m. on Saturday when officers from the South Simcoe Police Service and other emergency services were called to the area of 10 Sideroad and Line 4 in the town of Innisfil.
Police said a woman was critically injured after jumping from a plane operated for a local skydiving club. The woman was taken to hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Another friend, Melody Ozgoli, also shared her memories of Pardazi.
She ran a successful Tiktok account alongside her studies at the University of Toronto, her friends said. Pardazi travelled across Europe and was known to those closest to her for the unique cakes she would make at birthdays.
Her friends said the 21-year-old had also previously entered a Miss Canada competition, making it to the semi-finals.
“She was one of the bravest girls I ever had the chance of meeting and seeing her reach such a big audience in her last years of life, talking about things she genuinely cared about and loved was truly amazing,” her friend said.
“She loved speaking her mind and debating no matter who was on the other end.”
Ozgoli said she wanted to raise awareness of the potential dangers of skydiving and preserve the memory of her friend.
In a statement issued Monday, Skydive Toronto said Pardazi was a “recent addition” to the skydiving community and would be missed by her fellow students.
“The skydiver released a quickly rotating main parachute at a low altitude without the time/altitude required for the reserve parachute to inflate,” the organization said.
The friend said Pardazi was a thrill to be around.
“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,” her friend said.
Ozgoli said Pardazi had written a book her mother was in the process of trying to publish. “She was one in a billion and she died like one in a billion,” Ozgoli said.
South Simcoe police are investigating the death in collaboration with the chief coroner.
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