(CNN) To celebrate her 29th birthday, Katie Malone strapped into a parasail in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on June 9 and braced herself for an adventure high above the water.

The first few minutes went fine. But at some point in the ride, Malone saw that the boat supposedly pulling her along was going one way and she was flying in the other direction, approaching land. The line connecting them had snapped, she realized.

Her terrifying flight ended when Malone crash-landed about 45 minutes later at an airport nearly 2 miles away, her brother Brendan Malone told CNN on Thursday.

The crash left her with a broken pelvis, four broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and a blow to the left hand side of her face, he said.

But his sister is alive.

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