New setback for Branson team

London - The man who saved Virgin boss Richard Branson's life last year when his balloon failed on a round-the-world attempt …

London - The man who saved Virgin boss Richard Branson's life last year when his balloon failed on a round-the-world attempt was seriously injured yesterday when his parachute failed to open properly in a 13,000 ft sky dive.

Mr Alex Ritchie (52) suffered multiple injuries in the accident in Morocco. He had been engineer on Branson's current round-the-world attempt. Mr Branson said last night he was "very shocked" at the news and a decision on whether to go ahead with the balloon bid would be taken today.

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