Lost control

East Tyrol: Paraglider crashes 20 meters onto a field

A terrible recreational accident late Monday afternoon in East Tyrol: a German paraglider lost control during flight and crashed from a height of around 20 meters onto a meadow slope. The 45-year-old suffered serious injuries and had to be flown to hospital by emergency helicopter.

The German paraglider pilot had taken off from Obertilliach at around 5.30 p.m. and wanted to fly over Kartitsch to Sillian. "In the municipal area of Kartitsch, between the 2115-metre-high Dorfberg and the mountain station of the Dorfberg lift, the paraglider was pushed onto the north-facing slope due to the thermals. It then quickly lost altitude," reported the police.

Lost control and crashed
The attempt at an offside landing was unsuccessful. The German lost control and then crashed from a height of around 20 meters onto a snow-covered meadow slope, the investigators continued. 

To hospital by helicopter
The 45-year-old suffered serious injuries. After initial treatment on site, he was flown to Lienz District Hospital by the emergency helicopter.