A TEENAGE skydiver who fell thousands of feet when his parachute failed to open survived because he fell in a marshy quagmire.

The 18-year-old escaped with cuts and bruises after his parachute failed to open on Sunday.

As he leapt from the aircraft at Strathallan airfield, near Auchterarder, his parachute caught on a door, and attempts to open the reserve chute failed as it was also tangled.

It is thought that a soft landing in marshy ground allowed him to survive. The teenager, thought to be from Glasgow, was taken to hospital and later released.

John Hitchen, of the British Parachute Association, said: "This really is a miracle tale of survival."