Miraculous escape for Red Devils parachutist caught in mid-air by friend when parachute failed

A Red Devils parachutist had a miraculous escape when his chute failed during an airshow. His teammate caught him in mid-air and brought him down safely.

The Army free-fall parachute team was mounting a display at the Whitehaven Air Show in Cumbria on Friday night when his parachute failed.

Footage and pictures are being circulated on social media showing the soldier descending attached to a teammate before landing safely in Whitehaven's marina.

A posting on the show's Facebook page, says: "We can confirm that the Red Devil parachutists are both safe and sound. For the first time in 25 years, they had a parachute fail.

"One team member caught his teammate and brought him into Queens Dock. Our safety procedures worked perfectly and a huge thank you to Whitehaven Marina for getting them out of the water so quickly."

Spectators at the air show were horrified when they saw one of the team struggling while entangled in a collapsed chute.

Lucy Milne, who was watching the display, said: "It seemed to go on for ages. Everyone was holding their breath and then all of a sudden they were in the water.

"Everyone was staring at the water for ages waiting for them both to pop up and then when eventually they did everyone clapped."

The men have attracted praise on Facebook.

Sarah David wrote: "Glad to hear both are OK, was awful watching them struggling, especially when they veered off course – until we realised they were purposely targeting the biggest area of water for ditching in."

Melanie Ryden said: "We felt sick watching them tangled together and falling so fast. So relieved they landed in the water and were unhurt. Well done guys."

The Red Devils were founded 1963 and mount more than 60 displays annually. Currently the team has a complement of 12 soldiers from the Parachute Regiment, all of whom have at least three years parachuting experience. Yesterday's show also included a display by the Red Arrows.