The trainee pilot Sanjay Purushottam, 40, was conscious when Malaysian rescue workers found him trapped in his two-seater Cessna 152 aircraft at Gunung Pulai forest reserve near the town of Kulai at about 5pm. It was some seven hours after his plan went missing shortly after taking off from Senai Airport.

Kulaijaya Police Superintendent Zulkefly Yahya said: 'We are still investigating whether the crash was caused by pilot error, bad weather conditions or an engine fault.'

Mr Purushottam suffered many injuries, a fractured right thigh bone, facial bruises around his right eye and dehydration, during his escape from a brush with death which was called 'a miracle' by his wife, Madam Shubdha Bhave, 35, as well as friends who nervously waited outside the intensive care unit of Mount Elizabeth that day.

A close colleage said: 'We didn't know anything except that he was missing until he called.'

Mr Purushottam, who came from New Delhi four years ago, phoned his wife from the crash site to inform her about the accident and that he was safe.

He is a senior manager at Standard Chartered Bank and is known to travel to Johor often for flying lessons. Madam Bhave, who had gone to Johor on the night of the accident, said she was relieved that the worst is over. 'He will get better now,' she said.

The couple are childless.

Mr Purushottam, a trainee pilot with Malaysian private flight school Elite Flying Club, took off from Senai Airport at about 9.40am on Monday. He was on a navigational exercise to obtain his private pilot's licence and was scheduled to touch down at Batu Berendam airport in Malacca at 10.50am. He apparently ran into difficulties about 30 minutes into the flight. He asked for permission to turn back because of the strong winds before he lost contact with the air-traffic controllers, according to Malaysian paper The Star.

However, he did not make a mayday call.

When he did not arrive in Malacca, the authorities were notified and a rescue operation involving up to about 60 people was initiated.

It was only at about 5pm that the Royal Malaysian Air Force commandos and paramedics on foot found the wreckage. Mr Purushottam, who was in a state of shock, was still trapped in his seat in the aircraft which was entangled in the branches of a tree, precariously perched on the ledge of a 500m high cliff.

It was very difficult to spot the aircraft as only a small portion was visible. The rest was hidden in the foliage, rescue workers had to cut through the tail of the plane to get Mr Purushottam out, said Supt Zulkefly.

They stayed with him until first light that night. He was then taken to Sultanah Aminah Hospital in Johor Baru at about 7am in the morning and ferried back to Singapore at noon.

Singaporean pilots who fly the same route taken by Mr Purushottam have told local newspaper The Straits Times that recent weather conditions have been unfavourable for flying.

Mr Purushottam was very lucky to survive the crash with only a broken leg. I hope that he would not be so unlucky next time.

-All quotes were taken from the 28th January edition of The Straits Times