Flying too low

Paraglider ended up in hospital by helicopter

Symbolic image(Bild: Hannes Wallner)

The paragliding flight of a 41-year-old from Bavaria, who wanted to fly down into the valley from Hoher Sarstein in Bad Goisern (Upper Austria) with three friends on Saturday, ended differently than planned. He did not gain enough altitude, hit a stone with his foot and was left injured.

A group of four from Bavaria climbed the Hoher Sarstein in Bad Goisern on Saturday. Instead of descending on foot via the hiking trail, the group planned to paraglide down into the valley. At around 2.30 pm, the friends took off one after the other, directly from the summit area of the Hoher Sarstein, with a 41-year-old being the last of the group to try to take off. He pulled up his paraglider and glided a few meters downhill just above the ground. However, he did not gain enough height to glide over a rock directly in front of him.

Crashed into a stone with his foot
The 41-year-old hit the rock with his left foot and came to rest on the ground around 80 meters below the summit area. He was able to make an emergency call on his cell phone. The crew of the emergency helicopter treated the injured man directly at the scene of the accident; he was then flown on a rope to the intermediate landing site in the summit area, repositioned there and taken to the Salzkammergut Klinikum Bad Ischl with serious injuries.