Paraglider splits parachute in two

A 130kg paraglider has captured the dramatic moment his parachute split in two while flying high above Turkey.

Video uploaded to YouTube overnight shows the Russian national grinning broadly as his tandem instructor tries to perform a loop trick, where the pair passes above the middle canopy.

However, his smile quickly fades when the parachute suddenly tears, sending the instructor and his passenger into a panicked spiral some 800 metres above the town of Fethiye, Mugla in the country's southwest.

Luckily, the quick-thinking instructor was able to release three smaller parachutes, slowing the pair's fall.

According to Porsuk TV, they landed in the ocean where they were later rescued unharmed.