Tornado sucks up paraglider

A female paraglider has survived being sucked by a tornado-like thunderstorm in Australia.

German Ewa Wisnerska became encased in ice and blacked out after apparently being carried to a height greater than Mount Everest - known to mountaineers as the death zone for its extreme cold - in just ten minutes and was rendered unconscious for almost an hour.

The 35-year-old was free-flying near Tamworth, 173 miles northwest of Sydney, in a practice run ahead of an international competition next week.

Ms Wisnerska was admitted to hospital with severe frostbite and blistering to her face and ears, but has since been released.

Australian paraglider pilot Godfrey Wenness said: "There's no oxygen. She could have suffered brain damage. But she came to again at a height of 6,900m with ice all over her body and slowly descended herself."

Ms Wisnerska said: "You can't imagine the power. You feel like nothing, like a leaf from a tree going up. I was shaking all the time. The last thing I remember it was dark, I could hear lightning all around me."

Ms Wisnerska had been trying to fly around the rapidly developing storm front, but became trapped when two storm cells merged, Mr Wenness said.

A 42-year-old member of the Chinese paragliding team, He Zhongpin, died in the sudden storm.

Around 200 other people had been flying their parachute-style canopies in the area when the tornado struck.

Earlier this month, a British team member survived an attack by two wild eagles which sent her canopy plummeting while flying in the same area ahead of the championships.

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