Paraglider who broke his back and cracked his skull WALKED to safety after waking up in Brazilian jungle covered in blood

when he regained consciousness he was covered in blood "in the middle of the bush".

But Thomas, seemingly unfazed by the situation, simply picked himself up and started walking.

He said: "I remember one shoulder hurting, but other than that I didn't feel any pain. I even took a selfie!"

Thomas told how he packed up his parachute and hauled his 20kg bag through the bush.

After reaching the highway he then flagged down a passing car and hitched a ride back to his hotel – where his worried travel companions were waiting.

He went to the hospital, which sent him back to the hotel heavily sedated to travel home a few days later.

But Thomas’ concerned wife Anita Dangel, who stayed at home in London, said she knew something was wrong when she eventually got through to him after he was out of contact for two days.

She said he told her he was really weak from an accident and asked her to come and help him.

Anita said: "That was a red light for me. He's so independent – if he can do something on his own, he will."

After travelling out to Valadares, she revealed she opted to take her stricken hubby in an ambulance to a bigger hospital in the city of Belo Horizonte.

After arriving, Anita said she was glad she turned down the offer to fly Thomas there and opted for the six-hour drive instead.

She told how medics carried out a scan on her husband’s head – revealing he had broken several vertebrae in his back as well as his shoulder and his skull, causing blood to push down on his brain.

She said doctors told her it was a “miracle” he was alive, adding that Thomas “would have died if we had tried to fly with so much pressure on his brain”.

Nearly a month later and Thomas is still recovering, but the couple hope to fly back to the UK by the end of March.

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