The survival of a teenager who plummeted thousands of feet after catching his parachute on a plane hatch has been branded a ”miracle”.
The 18-year-old was taking part in his fourth jump above the Perthshire countryside on Sunday when disaster struck.
As he leapt from the aircraft his backpack became entangled in the exit, which caused him to tumble ”uncontrollably” into the sky, the British Parachute Association (BPA) confirmed.
In a desperate bid to right himself, the youth believed to be from the Glasgow area tugged on his reserve chute, but it failed to open.
Thankfully, his landing was softened by a marshy quagmire, which experts at BPA believe saved his life.
He was airlifted from Strathallan Airfield near Auchterarder to the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow with suspected neck and leg injuries, but was released a number of hours later with a clean bill of health.
The BPA is investigating the incident at Skydive Strathallan and another similar incident at Paragon Skydiving Club in Errol. They both took place on Sunday lunchtime.
Shortly after 1pm a 28-year-old woman was admitted to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee after sustaining a suspected broken ankle while taking part in an organised jump with Paragon.
BPA safety officer John Hitchen said he had been in contact with staff at both sites, but said there was no evidence of any wrongdoing.
Mr Hitchen, who has been a member of the association for the past 30 years, told The Courier: ”We inspect all skydiving companies every two years to ensure appropriate training, risk assessments and management structures are put in place.
”Centres are always quite honest with us as we have the power to stop all parachuting with immediate effect and take further action if required.”
Commenting on the Strathallan incident, he said: ”This really is a miracle tale of survival it’s just extraordinary the boy walked away with just cuts and bruises. He fell all that way without a working parachute it could have been fatal.”
He continued: “Everyone is really over the moon that he is okay. It was a freak accident. It appears he caught his backpack as he was exiting the aircraft and tumbled out uncontrollably.
“We believe that he followed the correct procedure by opening the reserve chute, but it was so tangled at this point it didn’t work.
“We are in regular contact with Kieran Brady and the other staff at Strathallan and when we visited last year found that all their procedures were perfect.
“The club have done nothing wrong in this instance but we will carry out further investigations, as is our policy.”
Mr Hitchen added: “There is an element of risk in the sport; anyone who says there isn’t would be lying it’s an adventure pursuit like rock-climbing or bungee jumping.
“However, clubs are highly regulated and staff must be properly trained. They must have licensed parachute packers to ensure all risks are reduced.”