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Authorities have identified the man who was killed in Wednesday afternoon's skydiving accident at Lost Prairie as 57-year old Garl "Mike" Newby of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Authorities say that Newby was a single parachuter in a group of jumpers who had just completed a formation and were all deploying their main chutes.

Newby's chute became entangled with the parachute of another jumper. The other jumper managed to remove his main chute and deploy his reserve chute. Newby also removed his main chute, but was unable to deploy his reserve parachute in time.

The Flathead County Coroners Office reports that Newby died of blunt force trauma after striking the ground.

The Flathead County Sheriff's office is making no further comments at this time, and the investigation has been turned over to the Federal Aviation Administration.

(June 28, 2010) The Flathead County Coroner has confirmed with Montana's News Station that one man is dead following a Wednesday afternoon skydiving accident at Lost Prairie.

Emergency crews rushed to the scene of Lost Prairie airstrip near Marion after receiving reports that a skydiver plunged to his death late Wednesday afternoon.

The adult male victim landed in an open field away from the main air strip and authorities blocked off the accident site, keeping witnesses at a distance as they investigated the scene.

Flathead County Coroner Gino Cook says it is too early to know what went wrong, stating, "It's preliminary right now. The FAA is going to have to take a look at it. They have specialists that can look at these parachutes, find out what did or didn't happen, that should or shouldn't have and we will go from there."

Even as investigators worked to remove the body, skydivers continued to parachute into the vicinity.

Friends of the victim conveyed to law enforcement the victim was an experienced skydiver.

(First Report) Emergency crews are at Lost Prairie airstrip west of Kalispell at this hour, where a skydiver plummeted to the ground after a chute failed to open.

Details are still sketchy at this point, but Flathead County Sheriff Mike Meehan confirms the accident, which happened late this afternoon at the airport near Marion.

Meehan tells Montana's News Station at least one person's chute did not open during a jump, and the skydiver fell from a "significant height".

Paramedics and deputies are on scene and while authorities have not yet released any official information, our reporter on the scene tells us it appears that funeral home vehicles have arrived at the airstrip.

Skydive Lost Prairie has had several accident in recent years.

In May of 2007, five people died in a plane crash. The plane took off with no problem, but crashed as it returned to the runway. An investigation revealed there were no mechanical problems, but an oil cap was not on the oil filling tube.

The most recent incident happened in April of 2009 when a small plane lost the right side of its landing gear as it dropped skydivers. The plane flew for about an hour and a half to burn off fuel, and then made an emergency landing in a field just south of the runway. The plane flipped on its top, but the Flathead Valley pilot did not get hurt.

Montana's News Station has a reporter heading to the scene and will bring you more information as it becomes available.

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