An experienced skydiver is dead after her parachute struck another jumper at a Georgia airport over the weekend. 

Authorities identified the victim as 48-year-old Jasmine Black, a seasoned skydiver with more than 160 jumps under her belt, according to Upson County Sheriff Dan Kilgore. 

An initial investigation revealed Black’s parachute struck the gear of a fellow jumper while the pair were approaching a landing zone at Skydive-Atlanta, located at the Thomaston Upson County airport, the sheriff said.

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Black reportedly “cut away” her main parachute, a maneuver that involves disconnecting the gear from a diver’s harness in the event of an emergency, according to Kilgore. Black then attempted to deploy her emergency parachute, but was unsuccessful due to the low altitude. 

Authorities were called to the facility just before 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, where first responders located “a deceased skydiver” on the tarmac, Kilgore said. 

“This is a tragic event,” Kilgore said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “We ask that we keep Jasmine Black’s family in prayer, as well as the others involved.”

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The incident occurred at Skydive-Atlanta, located at Thomaston Upson County airport in Georgia. (Google Maps)

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also responded to the incident and is assisting local law enforcement in the investigation. 

“The FAA investigates the packing of the main and reserve parachutes, and the rules of flight for the pilot and aircraft,” the FAA said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “If the FAA does not find any evidence of regulatory violation, it will defer any further investigation of the accident to local law enforcement.”

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Black reportedly “cut away” her primary parachute, but her emergency chute did not deploy due to the low altitude. (iStock)

The second jumper landed without injury, according to the facility. 

“The entire skydiving community feels the weight of any loss within the sport, and this tragedy is no exception,” Skydive-Atlanta said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Skydive-Atlanta extends its deepest condolences to the family, friends, and loved ones of Jasmine Black. The team is grieving alongside all those affected.”

Twenty people were injured on Tuesday afternoon when lightning struck a popular summertime lake destination in Lexington County, South Carolina. 

According to county officials, eight adults and 12 children were electrocuted when lightning struck Lake Murray at Dominion Beach Park. Twelve of the victims were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. 

The Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, along with the county’s fire service and EMS, quickly responded to the scene. 

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“Strong relationships with other local agencies played a critical role in ensuring a quick, coordinated response, allowing first responders to assess patients efficiently and provide the best possible care,” the county said. 

Dominion Beach Park is expected to reopen Wednesday after a safety inspection by local authorities. 

The news of the mass strike comes after a 29-year-old Colorado man was killed in a lightning strike during his honeymoon in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, last Friday. 

Steps leading into Lake Murray in Lexington, South Carolina. (Getty Images)

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Over the weekend, four Kentucky women vacationing in Marco Island, Florida were also reportedly struck by lightning. 

According to the National Lightning Safety Council, there have been four fatal lightning strikes in the United States so far in 2025. Those deaths occurred in Texas, Mississippi, North Carolina and Florida. 

There were 12 lightning fatalities in 2024, according to the organization.

“While lightning fatalities have decreased over the past 30 years, lightning continues to be one of the top storm-related killers in the United States,” the awareness group’s website says. “In addition, lightning injures many more people than it kills and leaves some survivors with life-long health problems.”

People walk past an access ramp at New Smyrna Beach in Volusia County, Florida, on February 23, 2024. (Photo by JESUS OLARTE/AFP via Getty Images)

The organization advises postponing events if there will be lightning in the area, and notes that lightning can strike up to 10 miles from a thunderstorm.

“Summertime leisure activities such as fishing, boating, camping, going to the beach, etc. contribute to about two-thirds of the lightning fatalities with the remainder related to work or routine daily activities,” the group said. “The best way to protect yourself from lightning is to plan ahead so that you can avoid the lightning threat.”

EXCLUSIVE: The House Energy and Commerce Committee is set to revive the National Coal Council and “reinvigorate America’s beautiful clean coal industry,” as President Donald Trump put it.

Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., told Fox News Digital the National Coal Council legislation will successfully pass out of his committee Wednesday and have a good chance of passing the full House.

Reps. Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, and Riley Moore, R-W.V., are leading the legislation to reestablish the council, effectively canceled by former President Joe Biden, and support the clean coal industry for a multitude of reasons, including energy security at a time of Middle East uncertainty.

Rulli told Fox News Digital the Biden administration’s endeavors against the council and the coal industry writ-large were a “deliberate” effort to “wipe out coal, kill jobs, and make America dependent on foreign energy.”

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The National Coal Council was key to improving lower-emissions technology and a crucial piece of the Energy Department’s toolkit. It was disbanded in 2021 after the Biden administration allowed its charter to lapse.

Originally formed in the 1980s as a 50-member advisory committee, it has guided government on the coal market and coal-sector technologies through five administrations.

The Biden administration let the council’s charter lapse during his term. Then-Rep. David McKinley, R-W.V., also confirmed such at the time.

“Time and time again, we see that energy security is national security,” Guthrie told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

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West Virginia Republican Rep. Riley Moore. (Getty)

“In order to protect American families and businesses and insulate ourselves from adversarial nations, it’s time to take action to secure our grid and promote the production of baseload American energy.”

Guthrie added the Iran situation is another reminder of why Congress must act to “unleash American energy and ensure that we can produce domestically the power our communities rely on.” 

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A coal plant in West Virginia. (Getty)

Domestically, coal power supports hundreds of thousands of jobs, including in Guthrie’s Kentucky, Rulli’s Ohio and Moore’s West Virginia.

“President Trump knows that coal is the key to unleashing American energy dominance, reindustrializing the heartland, and winning the AI arms race. The National Coal Council will play a vital role in those efforts,” Moore told Fox News Digital.

“With our global competitors constantly bringing new coal plants online to power their economies, we can’t afford to fall behind,” he added.

The bill further acts on Trump’s Executive Order 14241 focusing on clean coal and will help meet the rise in electricity demand needed for the exponential projected growth in AI data centers around the country.

Proponents also hope it will bolster coal as the power source needed to onshore manufacturing and supply chains; another goal of the political right.

Rulli said the original council was a “pillar” of U.S. energy policy and a “voice for an industry whose workers built this nation and powered our economy. Its elimination was no accident.”

“The left wants to shut it all down for good,” he said.

“This bill won’t let that happen … We must restore the National Coal Council and defend the energy backbone of this country—before it’s too late.” 

Rulli said just as in West Virginia and Kentucky, where his colleagues hail from, Ohio’s coal industry drove its manufacturing sector for decades, providing thousands of good-paying jobs in his Youngstown district.