A woman stranded in a canal near an alligator has been rescued after a hero paraglider made an emergency landing.
Christiano Piquet, from Florida, US, was paragliding with a friend on Sunday morning when he wanted to look at an alligator he spotted from the air.
But when he went to look at the animal closely he suddenly noticed a distressed motorist clinging on top of her vehicle in a canal.
The estate agent noticed the vehicle submerged in the water and quickly went about landing to try and help the struggling woman.
Mr Piquet told the Miami Herald: “I turned around to get a shot of the alligator, and I saw a car under the water. I flew closer to the car and I saw a woman on top."
His GoPro camera shows the moment he attempts to land in the field as he shouts “You need help?"
As the paraglider made his way to a nearby field, a local neighbour heard the incident and also went to help the woman stranded as he threw her some rope.
Footage captured the remarkable moment the paraglider descends on to the field as the woman uses the rope to try and pull herself to safety.
He told NBC Miami: "We landed between power lines, uneven terrain. It was a terrible landing situation. And for some reason, I was calm, and I landed."
As the paraglider made his way towards the woman he quickly shouted: "We need help" as the motorist is heard shouting "Oh, my God. I fell with my car in here."
Mr Piquet, who was flying with a friend when the incident happened, said the neighbour threw a rope which saved her life: "So we threw her a rope, and she was free, she was alive.
“Everything happened so fast, and after we got her to safety, we called 911.”
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department were called to the scene at around 8.35am on Sunday to the canal on the southwest edge of greater Miami and borders Everglades National Park.
Emergency services checked the water to see if there were any other passengers but it was just the woman.
She was quickly rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment - with her injuries and her identify still to be confirmed.
According to the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department, it is unclear how her vehicle ended up submerged in the canal.
However, the hero pilot was undeterred by his rescue effort, he admitted: “I think God told me, ‘My friend, land and save that one life.’ We landed between power lines and uneven terrain… it was a terrible landing situation. For some reason, I was calm.”
An investigation into the accident is underway, according to police.
