A Colchester paratrooper has been badly injured on holiday - after a parachute jump went wrong.

Corporal Stuart Pearson is being treated in an Israeli hospital after breaking his leg during a holiday parachute jump.

Cpl Pearson, who serves with the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, will not be returning to the UK until he is well enough to travel.

On holiday with friends, some of whom were fellow paratroopers from the same regiment, the group decided to take part in a parachute jump.

Having jumped out of a plane above Israeli sand dunes he broke his leg on landing, it is understood.

But exactly how Cpl Pearson broke his leg, and the actual cause of the accident, remains uncertain.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: "It's not clear as to how he came to be injured. Whether or not it was equipment failure, it is still too early to tell."

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