A NORTH-EAST student relived the moment he cheated death by landing in a tree after both his parachutes failed to deploy fully on his first ever skydive.

Liam Byrne, 18, had been looking forward to an adventure as he steeled himself to jump from 3,200ft above Peterlee Parachute Centre, in County Durham, on Saturday evening.

But nothing could have prepared the teenager, a new member of the Northumbria University Parachute Club, for what would happen when he launched himself out of the plane. His first parachute became twisted and he was ordered by radio to release his reserve.

But the reserve became tangled in the main chute, resulting in him spiralling out of control towards the earth.

Incredibly, Mr Byrne plunged into a tree where the branches helped to break his fall – narrowly missing a churchyard and a 5ft high spiked metal fence.

He was left suspended 30ft above the ground until the emergency services arrived to free him. Mr Byrne walked away unharmed. Afterwards, Mr Byrne, originally from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, said: “I was glad I didn’t hit the church or hit the fence below.

“It was a bit scary. I just made sure I grabbed onto the tree so I was safe untilsomeone came and found me.”

Emergency services were called to the scene shortly before 5.30pm. Mr Byrne was stuck in the tree for about 30 minutes. He was checked out by paramedics but is believed to be unhurt.

The teenager thanked the firefighters who rescued him, but said he would probably jump again, saying: “I don’t know. We’ll see. It’s the best way to get over it.”

“It’s all in a day’s work,” he joked.

A County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: “He was lucky that he hit the tree and didn’t come down on the fence.”

Mr Byrne was performing a static line jump, where new divers are allowed to jump solo because their parachute is deployed by a cord attached to the plane.

Former soldier Ian Rosenvinge, who runs the parachute centre, which is near Shotton Colliery, said Mr Byrne had been given training on Friday night and Saturday morning, but had failed to arch his body correctly, meaning some of the parachute’s lines snagged on his arms.

The two parachutes then bacame tangled, meaning Mr Byrne rotated in the air and was unable to control where he landed, he added.

However, with two parachutes, the teenager was falling slower than he would have normally – about 18ft per second.

Mr Rosenvinge had Mr Byrne debriefed afterwards and asked him to call his parents to tell them what had happened, he said.

He added: “We’re very grateful that he’s okay. We have an excellent safety record here. I can only impress on solo jumpers – if you want to avoid an entanglement, you need to arch as you leave the airplane.

“I would like to thank the fire brigade and paramedics for reacting very quickly and getting him down safely.”

Mr Byrne would be welcome back to skydive again, Mr Rosenvinge added.