TikTok star and Miss Canada finalist, 21, dies in freak skydiving accident after 'opening parachute too late'
2 September 2022, 21:30
A 21-year-old TikTok star and budding beauty queen has tragically died after "opening her parachute too late" in her first solo skydive.
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Tanya Pardazi, from Toronto, Canada, reportedly died while completing her first solo dive with Skydive Toronto in Innisfil, Ontario, at around 5.40pm on 27 August.
The Miss Canada finalist, described by friends as "adventurous", "released" her parachute "at a low altitude" without the proper time necessary for it to inflate, the skydiving school said.
The TikToker was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
She had finished a day of ground school before her death and was qualified to dive alone.
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Tributes have flooded social media for the Toronto University student, who had racked up nearly 100,000 followers and fans on TikTok.
Her friends said she had previously taken part in the Miss Canada beauty pageant and had made it to the semi-finals.
Melody Ozgoli told CTV News Toronto: "Tanya had an interest in anything that was new and adventurous.
"Life was too boring for her and she was always trying to do something adventurous. She really lived every second to the fullest."
Tanya was studying philosophy and had often spoken about Tetris and skydiving on her TikTok page.
Others remembered Tanya as being "brave" and popular amongst the crowd.
"Everyone who met her thought the world of her," Kimia Sepanlou told CTV News Toronto.
"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."
Skydive Toronto said in a statement that Tanya was a "recent addition" to the skydiving community and had “released a quickly rotating main parachute at a low altitude without the time/altitude required for the reserve parachute to inflate”.
The company added: “The team at Skydive Toronto Inc. has been profoundly affected by the accident as they have refined their student training program for over 50 years.”
The police are investigating the influencer’s death.
