A hero skydiving instructor has recalled the decision to save his student during a parachute accident, which left him paralysed.

Malfunctioning equipment can be dangerous in most sports; but when you're jumping out of a plane, a mistake could prove to be fatal.

This is the exact situation that instructor David Hartsock found himself in, when a tangled parachute meant he had to make a terrifying decision.

While the thought of something going horribly wrong is likely at the forefront of a person's mind before skydiving, it's worth noting that fatal parachute accidents are rare, with law firm Stewarts reporting 39 fatalities in the UK between 2001 and 2020.

The firm added that there was an injury risk of 0.5 per 1,000 jumps.

However, the unthinkable can, and does, happen, with Hartsock's story being a harrowing reminder of how dangerous extreme sports can be.

In 2009, Hartsock had been working as a skydiving instructor in Texas and had finished for the day when he was asked to take 54-year-old grandmother and first time jumper Shirley Dygert for a tandem jump from 5,000 feet.

Recalling the decision to take Dygert for her skydiving session on 1 August, he recalled in an interview with Inside Edition: "I was done. But one quick jump, it's easy."