The young woman who fell 1,000 feet to her death after she slipped out of her harness on her first hang gliding trip tried desperately to cling to her instructor in her final moments, it has emerged.

Lenami Godinez, 27,fell on the tandem hang gliding trip on Saturday afternoon on Woodside Mountain in British Columbia, Canada.

She was flying next to a professional instructor, whom she and her boyfriend had hired to take her up soaring above the trees.

Authorities are blaming either pilot error or equipment failure in the horrifying death. She was found seven hours after she fell, and one of the instructor's shoes was discovered 60ft away from her body.

The moment Miss Godinez's tandem hang glider launched from the mountain, the instructor knew something was wrong, the Canadian Press reported.

As Miss Godinez, who is originally from Mexico, began to slip from the her harness, the pilot tried feverishly to hang onto her, said Jason Warner, a hang glide safety expert who spoke to the pilot minutes after the accident.

As she slid from the glider, the pilot tried wrapping his legs around her to keep her from falling. But it was a futile effort.

She quickly slid through his legs, grabbing at his feet as she fell from the sky. Her last desperate act was to hang onto his shoe, which came loose and sent her plummeting to the ground about 30 seconds after takeoff.

Miss Godinez, who was an administrator at the provincial Ministry of Environment, went hang gliding after her boyfriend bought her lessons for their anniversary. He was video-recording the flight, but had stopped taping before she fell.

'The boyfriend was next to go. All you can say is "Oh my God,"' Sgt Mark Pelz, of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said.

Kent Harrison Search and Rescue received an emergency call at about 12.15pm after the incident, near Harrison Mills.

About 40 people were involved in the search.
According to News1130 the pilot was uninjured, but was described as being in a state of 'shock'.

'He doesn't know what's up and down at the moment,' Mr Warner, the hang gliding expert, said.

The pilot's name was not released.

The area is a popular one for beginners, who frequently learn to hang glide and paraglide on tandem rides.

Mr Warner described the incident as 'uncommon'.
The woman's death marks the second high-profile fatality related to hang gliding in recent months.

In October, 16-year-old Lois Preston, described as an experienced pilot, died from injuries sustained when her glider crashed in Ashbourne in England.