A 56-year-old Dutchman crashed his paraglider into a high-voltage cable in the Austrian state of Carinthia on Wednesday. The man then fell from a height of about 5 meters and was seriously injured. He was taken to hospital by rescue helicopter, Austrian police said.
Sebastiaan Quekel
General reporter
The Dutchman embarked on a ‘recreational flight’ on Wednesday morning around 11 a.m. from the Emberger Alm, a popular refuge for hang gliders and paragliders, in southern Austria.
Something went wrong about half an hour after take-off, near the village of Greifenburg. The man suddenly lost altitude while landing, after which he collided with a 110 kilovolt high-voltage line.
Pain in the neck and spine
After the collision, the 56-year-old man fell adrift. At first he gathered his own parachute, but then he started experiencing pain in his neck and spine.
Emergency responders provided him with medical attention on the spot. The Dutchman was then transferred by helicopter to the hospital in Lienz. It is not known exactly how serious his injuries are.
The police report that there are so far no indications that anyone else is to blame for the accident. An investigation is still ongoing.
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