Skydivers feared lost have been found

Posted Thursday, March 1, 2001

Malaysian maritime police rescued skydivers from the United States and Denmark who were feared to have been blown out to sea but actually had washed ashore on a deserted beach. Derek Thomas, 44, of Zephyr Hills, Florida, and Karen Willerup of Denmark, lost during a parachute competition off the island of Borneo, sang to each other for five hours Tuesday night (Karens birthday) before help arrived.

They hit gusty winds and overshot their landing zone in Menggatal district, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) from where the show "Survivor" was filmed.

On Tuesday, five of the skydivers were found on shore after a two-hour search, but a bigger operation had to be mounted for Thomas and Willerup. It was believed they had been blown into the South China Sea or rugged rain forest.

Thomas said he miscalculated his landing because of thick clouds. He and Willerup where doing a tandem skydive, they drifted downwind, nearly 5 kilometers (3 miles) from where they planned to land.

Neither Thomas nor Willerup were injured.

(Derek Thomas is the owner of SunPath Products, manufaturers of the Javelin)