Trapped paraglider dies after five-hour rescue
Top News | Michael Shum 19 Jun 2024
Rescuers spent five hours rescuing an injured 74-year-old retired cop who was trapped on a tree when paragliding due to foggy weather and treacherous terrain.
The adverse conditions forced rescuers to use an automatic chest compression machine to resuscitate the paraglider, surnamed Tang, as a usual 45-minute walk turned into a five-hour trek.
The retired station sergeant was placed in an ambulance at 2.45am yesterday and taken to North Lantau Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Tang, who had been paragliding for seven years, went to Pak Kung Au on Lantau Island with five friends at around 2.30pm Monday. He was the first to take off on his glider.
But sooner after he had taken off, the wind blew him eastwards in the direction of Pui O.
Through GPS technology, rescuers were able to narrow the search area and finally located Tang at around 9.25pm that same day on a slope 80 meters under the Lantau Trail.
The Hong Kong China Paragliding Association had already advised paragliders that taking off at Sunset Peak should only be attempted by those with a pilot rating of HKPA 3 or higher - the third-highest in the six-tiered ratings among amateur paragliders.
"The weather change in the summer [at Sunset Peak] is relatively rapid and there are always accumulated clouds near the mountain peak, which paragliders should not take lightly," association vice chairman Herman Chiu Ho-nam said.
He added that according to the Hong Kong Observatory's information, clouds were quite low on Monday with a few showers while the wind was also quite strong. Any rapid change in weather would have posed risks to paragliders.
But paragliders at the scene said that the visibility on Monday afternoon was acceptable.
"Paragliding is an aviation activity with risks. Participants must be careful and aware of the weather and site conditions," Chiu said. "We have issued a manual and safety guidelines in hopes that paragliding enthusiasts can safely enjoy the activity."
Chiu also called on all paragliding pilots to install the police's HKSOS mobile application so rescuers can pinpoint their position as soon as possible in an emergency.
This marks the fourth paragliding accident in seven years. In 2018, paragliding enthusiast Patrick Chung Yuk-wa died after he lost control of his glider in bad weather and went missing.
Chung's body was found around six days later on the slope of Sunset Peak - just one kilometer northeast of where he took off - with multiple bone fractures.
A novice paraglider died last year after he lost control of his glider after taking off from Tuk Ngu Shan in Sai Kung and crashed into the sea near Long Ke Wan.
