British Sky-Diver Saves 2 Jumpers in Midair

Sky-diving instructor Ronnie O’Brien, 44, was a modest hero after rescuing two divers plunging toward earth without an open parachute in Peterborough, north of London.

Student sky-diver Richard Maynard and instructor Mike Smith were strapped together Tuesday for a tandem jump when Smith blacked out. O’Brien dived 200 feet to the men, steadied them and opened their emergency canopy, then released his own parachute.

Smith regained consciousness 2,000 feet above the ground, and they landed safely. “I think people are making more of it than it really is,” O’Brien told Independent Television News. “It wasn’t difficult. It was fairly straightforward.”