A 49-year-old man has died in a parachuting accident near Teuge airfield in Gelderland.

Investigations are ongoing into how the man from Utrecht apparently ended up several hundred metres from the normal landing spot at the airport’s Skydive Teuge, the largest skydiving facility in the Netherlands and the headquarters of the national parachuting centre.

Emergency services and aviation specialists were at the scene for several hours after the accident happened at around 3.45pm on Sunday.

A witness, named only as Hein, told De Gelderlander newspaper that he was walking his dog when he heard a loud thud and saw a body in the road in front of him.

‘I immediately knew that it was wrong, because I did not see a parachute,’ he said. ‘If it had happened two seconds earlier, I would been underneath it.’

The accident occurred at the start of the spring parachuting season, during a day devoted to skydiving safety.

‘Sad start to the season. Condolences to the family and everyone involved,’ one woman wrote on Twitter.

Simon Woerlee, director of the national parachuting centre, said the 49-year-old man was a ‘very experienced’ skydiver. ‘But he rarely or never jumped in Teuge,’ he said.