I just had an interview with Rich Grimm, the organizer for the Boogie in Belize II sky dive rally.
Needless to say this is a tragedy. I will paraphrase our conversation.
According to Rich, the accident occurred between 12 and 1 today. The victim was a very experienced skydiver and was here with his girlfriend. Rich said he was from California, but did not want to release the name until the family is notified.

Both the victim and his girlfriend were wearing the "winged" clothing that allows skydivers to stay aloft longer. When it was time to deploy the chute, the girlfriend deployed hers, once stable, looked for her companion. She did not see him anywhere.

Others that were on the jump saw the victim fall all the way to the water. He landed outside the reef. Boats that are on standby immediately found the body with the help of the parachute plane spotting from above.

The equipment and body were immediately examined. According to Rich, there is no indication that the primary, nor secondary chute were attempted to deploy. It appears the equipment was in working order. He did not want to speculate how this tragedy occurred.

The body was taken to the San Pedro airport and around 3 pm flown to Belize City. Rich is working with the US Embassy, family of the deceased and the police to have the body flown back to the US.

Rich went on to say that this is tragic and these accidents are very rare. However, with most extreme sports, there is inherent risks. "This sport especially allows little room for error," he stressed.

The jumps have been canceled for today (February 16), but will resume tomorrow, likely with a memorial skydive to start the day. Rich said the victim was a good friend of his, "and I think he would want to look down and watch his friends continue to skydive."