Updated: 10:37, Tuesday February 20, 2007

A lightning strike killed a Chinese paraglider who was sucked into the same powerful thunderstorm that a German woman miraculously survived, it has been revealed.

He Zhongpin died during the freak storm which hit fellow paraglider Ewa Wisnierska last Wednesday.

The 42-year-old victim was a member of the Chinese paragliding team and had 10 years of experience.

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Preliminary post mortem results showed that he was killed by a lightning strike after being sucked into the tornado-like funnel.

Mr Zhongpin's body was found the day after the incident, 45 miles from where he had taken off.

It had initially been suspected that he may have frozen to death or suffocated at high altitude.

Both paragliders had been preparing for the World Paragliding Championships, which begin on Saturday in Australia.

Ms Wisnierska survived her ordeal despite being encased in ice as she was carried up to 30,000 feet - higher than Mount Everest - while flying her parachute-like canopy.

She was hit by hail stones the size of oranges and blacked out for almost an hour due to lack of oxygen.

Ms Wisnierska regained consciousness when she drifted down to 2,000 feet and guided her own canopy to a safe landing.

She suffered severe frost bite and blistering to her face and ears after enduring temperatures of -50C.

However she was released from hospital saying that she still hoped to compete in the world championships.