Brite dies in paragliding crash after falling to the ground while flying at beautiful spot in Portugal
A BRITISH man has died after a horrific paragliding accident at a holiday hotspot.
Rescue workers launched a search after an 911 call reported that a paraglider had fallen to the ground near a beautiful spot north of Lisbon.
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The accident victim is said to have already suffered a cardiac arrest when it was discovered in a “difficult-to-reach area”.
He was assisted by medical experts but died at the scene of the accident near Vale Bom in the municipality of Cadaval.
It is close to the Montejunto mountains, an hour north of Lisbon, a nature lover’s paradise full of windmills and sleepy villages that is also a well-known wine region.
The alarm went off just before 9pm yesterday, but it remains unclear if Man lived in Portugal or was just on vacation.
An unconfirmed report said he practiced powered paragliding, also known as paramotoring, in which the pilot carries a backpack motor that provides enough thrust to take off in a paraglider.
Investigations were underway into the cause of the accident.
Paragliding is one of the activities listed as “activities” on local travel websites, along with hiking, mountaineering and horseback riding.
Former Scotland rugby international Greig Oliver died in a tragic paragliding accident in South Africa earlier this week.
The 58-year-old is an elite performance officer at Irish rugby club Munster is believed to have drowned on Monday after crashing into rocks after an unusual mid-air collision.
Greig, who was in South Africa to support his son Jack and the Ireland team during the Rugby U20 World Cup, was a passenger on a tandem flight overlooking the Cape Town coast.
Two tandem pilots collided in mid-air over Sea Point Promenade, a popular tourist area.