A PARACHUTIST miraculously escaped with just a grazed knee after colliding with another jumper in mid-air, losing consciousness and landing on a hanger roof.

The Bournemouth man in his mid 20s is thought to have been knocked unconscious before he landed on the hanger roof as he made a jump over Dunkeswell Airfield in East Devon.

He landed on the hanger roof after his emergency chute automatically deployed and was conscious by the time firefighters arrived.

Jason Farrant, chief instructor at Skydive UK Ltd, based at the airfield, said that the man was “a little embarrassed by landing on a roof,” and wanted to remain anonymous.

The man is understood to be a member of the skydiving club.

Mr Farrant said: “He grazed a knee in the landing.

“It is protocol for us to call the emergency services as it is a high roof and we could not get him down. He was told just to stay there.

“He had done multiple jumps yesterday but on this jump he tapped into another parachutist which he said led him to lose consciousness for a while.

“He is a relatively experienced skydiver and a member of the British Parachute Association but he got his approach wrong with his parachute.

“Skydivers are fully trained if they have to do unusual landings.

He is back diving today.”

The airplane hanger at Dunkeswell Airfield is large, with a flat roof.

Mr Farrant said although the parachutist could not slip off the roof because it is not sloped, they did not want him to move just in case some parts of the roof were unstable.

When the fire-fighters arrived at the scene, at around 9pm on Sunday, the man was able to get up and walk across the roof to them and climb down a ladder.

“He was checked over and then carried on having a barbecue and a few beers with us after,” Mr Farrant added.

Skydive UK Ltd conducts about 15,000 jumps a year and is the only club to go as high as 15,000ft.

Two fire engines from the retained station at Honiton, with Watch Commander Graham Brooks in charge, carried out the rescue using a ladder.

A fire service spokesman said: “We were initially told that the man’s injuries were quite severe but it seems he was very lucky.

“When we got to the airfield we gained access to the roof where the man had come around just moments before.”