A skydiver has fallen to his death after he plummeted into a backyard in Southern California on Saturday.

Ken Oka, 62, tragically died after he and a group of skydivers tried a multiple person maneuver over Riverside County.

Oka got entangled in a parachute and despite trying, was unable to free himself before he landed on the ground, according to preliminary reports.

Oka was found in the backyard of a home in Lake Elsinore and pronounced dead after being taken to hospital.

Independent investigations are underway by police and the Federal Aviation Administration, AP reports.

When a parachute opens, a skydiver can control the direction and speed with toggles on the end of steering lines attached to the edge of the parachute. This allows them to aim for the landing site and come to a gentle stop.

Around 21 skydiver are killed each year in the US, which is about one death for every 150,000 jumps.

Many skydivers use an automatic activation device (AAD) that opens the reserve parachute at a pre determined altitude if it detects the skydiver is still in free fall.

Injuries and fatalities occurring under a fully functional parachute usually happen because the skydiver performed unsafe maneuvers or made an error in judgment while flying their canopy, typically resulting in a high speed impact with the ground or other hazards on the ground.