Paraglider's storm miracle

A German paraglider has survived a terrifying flight through a storm that lifted her so high she lost consciousness and suffered frostbite.Ewa Wisnierska was in eastern Australia training for the World Paragliding Championships when a storm carried her paraglider to 32,612 feet, about 3,000 feet higher than Mount Everest.A Chinese paraglider, He Zhongpin, was killed by the same storm, but Miss Wisnierska's paraglider remained upright for more than 30 minutes even though she was unconscious.She came round about 1,640 feet from Earth, with frostbite on her face and ice in her lightweight flying suit.A doctor at the scene said it was a miracle she survived.Retrieval specialist Dr Ken Harrison said: "Obviously if the paraglider hadn't stayed the right way up it would have been really really difficult for her. I also think that it is a kind of medical miracle that her body was able to cope with that."Incredibly, Miss Wisnierska only spent an hour in hospital after her ordeal and plans to compete in the World Championships on February 24.She said: "The glider kept climbing climbing and I couldn't see anything. Then it got dark. I was already shaking, all wet, all instruments were frozen."She said she could hear lightning around her and decided her chances of survival were slim.She added: "I realised I'm in the middle of a thunderstorm. And then I was only praying."She recalled the feeling of elation when she eventually came round.She said: "I kept spiralling from 16,400 feet to maybe 5,000 feet and I saw the earth, and I was like 'wow, maybe, maybe, probably I will survive'."© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

ITN | February 16, 2007

Tags:. .lost. .stayed. .kind. .decided. .dark