AN inquest into the death of a County Durham farmer in a holiday paragliding accident yesterday failed to determine the cause of the tragedy.

Colin Mitchelson, 49, died when he and the pilot of a para-glider he had hired crashed into a Turkish mountainside, while on a family holiday.

He and his wife extended their ten-day holiday because they were enjoying it so much when tragedy struck last June.

Yesterday, an inquest at Durham County Hall heard how Mr Mitchelson, of Dene House, Satley, near Tow Law, and local pilot Mevlut Delibas were seen to plummet 400ft on to rocks after their craft got into difficulties.

A witness at the scene described seeing the paraglider take-off from a 1,900ft-high cliff.

He then saw the pair struggle with their harnesses that attached them to the canopy before straightening up again.

But seconds later, the whole craft fell out of the sky, with Mr Mitchelson receiving multiple injuries on impact with the ground.

In a written statement translated from Turkish, witness Sukru Turkkun said he filmed the first few minutes of the ill-fated flight with a video recorder.

He filmed as the pilot appeared to struggle with the harness, but stopped when he saw the glider continue its flight seemingly as normal.

He said: "I saw him stabilise then continue on its journey. Soon after I learned they had crashed near the town of Babadagi.

"At the scene I could see they were dead."

Turkish accident investigators examined the wreckage for structural faults or tears in the harness but found no evidence to suggest the craft wasn't airworthy.

The investigation also produced no evidence to prove that turbulence or pilot error had a part to play in the crash that occurred in the Ovacik region of Turkey.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, deputy North Durham coroner Brenda Davidson expressed her sympathy to the family