German paraglider survives killer storm

CANBERRA, Feb 16 (Reuters) A champion German paraglider has survived being sucked into a thunderstorm in Australia and carried to a height greater than Mount Everest in just minutes, while a Chinese colleague died in the incident.

The German woman, Ewa Wisnerska, 35, was carried to 30,000 feet while flying near Tamworth, 280 km northwest of Sydney, in a practice run yesterday ahead of world championships next week.

''She was encased in ice all over her body and her harness and equipment. It's minus 40 to minus 50 degrees Celsius at that altitude,'' event organiser Godfrey Wenness told Reuters today.

A 40-year-old member of the Chinese team died in the sudden storm, which struck while around 200 people were in the air on a routine afternoon flight.

Wisnerska, a member of the German team, had been carried to a height greater than the 8,850-metre Mt Everest -- an area known to mountaineers as the death zone for its extreme cold -- in just 10 minutes and was rendered unconscious for almost an hour.

''There's no oxygen. She could have suffered brain damage.

But she came to again at a height of 6,900 metres with ice all over her body and slowly descended herself,'' Wenness said.

Wisnerska was hospitalised with severe frostbite to her face and blistering, but had since been released and was recovering.

Sudden severe thunderstorms are common during the Australian summer and routinely strike major cities with hail, heavy rain and destructive winds.

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

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

REUTERS PB DS1055