John Peel, Anthony Azzopardi and Charmaine Vella had quickly rushed to the aide of the two British tourists helping them loose from the harness after the rope of a parachute snapped in high winds last Saturday. They were invited for a few drinks by the two British siblings and their family at the Seabank hotel in Mellieha, as a thank-you for the help they provided

The mood was festive, with the siblings, their parents and the three Maltese forming new friendships, discussing the incident, and expressing relief at how the event turned out. The British family left for home yesterday.

The three live quite close to each other in the caravan facility across the road from the bay. "We saw the paraglider swaying and all of a sudden it snapped. Once this happened I knew that it had to land somewhere," John Peel explained. "We didn't know where it would land however we ran down. As soon as we saw them being towed across the field, it was luck that they hit a small boundary wall. Anthony and I then began helping them up and Charmaine came in helping Grace, hugging her".

When the two landed, those rushing from the caravans were yelling "hold the parachute" Mr Peel said.

"We took care of them like they were our kids. The two were panicked and Grace was crying," Mrs Vella explained. "She wanted her parents".

"It was a miracle and they were very lucky," she added.  Mr Azzopardi and Mr Peel said that they could have easily hit the electricity wires or other dangerous objects in the area.

"We didn't realise the danger at the time - the parachute was pulling us along with them slightly. At the time we only thought of helping them as they needed help," Mrs Vella said. "Anthony stayed on the left to take the impact with the wall. He was trying to protect his sister".

Discussing their ordeal Anthony and Grace Nisbet said they didn't realise the rope snapped at first. "We were already jolting around in the air. We went into a bit of panic when it snapped and we heard all the people on the beach panicking. We were only up there for around 30 seconds till we landed and I remember yelling at my sister to land on our feet".

Anthony, 20 and Grace, 16, have no experience paragliding prior to the incident. "It's not like a normal paraglider... there was no hand held mechanism although we were able to grab onto the harness," Anthony said.  While high up in the sky, the two looked down to the speedboat their parachute was attached to. The siblings felt concern for the family who crewed the boat, and saw that they were trying to anchor onto another boat. "I think they got saved quite quickly. They were in quite a dangerous situation themselves with the boat turning over. The boat beached around 20m from the shore and I think that's when the tension on the chord built up and snapped". Mr Nisbet mentioned the courage by those on the boat, "who did all they could to try and ensure their safety".

"It was really calm and no clouds were present when we went up," Grace explains. "It was fine for three or four minutes and then the storm moved in".

He felt lucky that they didn't land on the road. "We didn't have any control over the landing. We might have been able to, but we didn't really think about it. We were more concerned with how we were going to land".

Mr Nisbet explained that they were dragged around 40m along the field, crashing into a wall. The two men, John Peel and Anthony Azzopardi, then rushed to their aid and jumped onto the parachute which was caught on a yucca tree, closely followed by Charmaine.

"It was mainly the wall that stopped us, and being dragged across the wall wouldn't have ended well," Mr Nisbet said. "The people who helped us up detached us from the harness very quickly as we were still being dragged across the wall".

"I don't think our family knew exactly what had happened by this point. They could see the paraglider and I think they thought we landed on the beach, they didn't realise we had flown over across the road".

The siblings would consider paragliding again if it were somewhere special, but wouldn't consider it again just for the sake of it.

The two were then taken to Mater Dei Hospital for treatment, and during the interview grazes on both siblings were still evident.

"We saw other people in hospital who had been injured in the storm and it was quite dramatic".

The Nisbets spoke to their family on the phone prior to seeing them in the hospital, telling them that they weren't badly hurt.

Asked whether at any point during the ordeal they thought that it would be the end of the line, the siblings explained - "we didn't think that way, however if we were coming in faster then maybe. We just kept calm. Two years ago I was in a dune buggy and flipped - rolling down a hill. This was similar to that experience, where you just try and get out of the situation".

Photos and video Jonathan Borg