Motorised Paraglider Trapped After Hitting Power Lines

Story By: John FengSub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report   

Video Credit: AsiaWire

This is the moment a hapless adventurer in a motorised paraglider ends up dangling upside down from a set of high-voltage power lines 165 feet in the air before finally being rescued five hours later.

The powered paragliding enthusiast Mr Zhao runs a paramotoring business, but also sells advertising space on his parachutes as he soars above the skies of Xiaojichang, a town in the city of Bijie in China’s south-western province of Guizhou.

Picture Credit: AsiaWire

He was flying an advert for a newly opened brickworks when he accidentally crashed into the power lines on 29th December, Mr Zhao revealed to local media.

Footage taken by witnesses shows the paraglider dangling upside down from the high-voltage cables some 50 metres (165 feet) in the air.

Local authorities sent to rescue Mr Zhao said they asked the electricity provider to cut supply to the power lines.

Picture Credit: AsiaWire

Video then shows members of the fire service standing below the power lines while an employee from the utility company climbs a pylon to deliver a rescue harness to the stranded paraglider.

With guidance from firefighters below, Mr Zhao puts on his harness and jumps out of his paraglider, hanging from the power lines before he is slowly lowered to the ground using a pulley, as the video shows.

Mr Zhao, who said he did not come in contact with the power lines but felt a tingling sensation throughout his body, was not injured during the scare lasting five hours.

He said he was circling the mountains while flying the advertisement for the brick factory. He spotted the power lines too late and could not change course before he crashed into them.

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