Paraglider tragedy as man dives into rocks

A man has died, crashing while paragliding at Mount Maunganui.

Emergency services were yesterday sent to the scene after reports came in he was found having crashed into rocks while flying during the Bay of Plenty Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club dress up and spot landing day.

Several members of the club who attended the event would not comment on the incident, as the man’s family was overseas and they wanted to wait for family to find out first.

Police confirmed the paraglider had been found at 5pm but would not say what state the glider was in.

At 7.30pm the police confirmed the death.

Earlier this year a paraglider had a close call with Tauranga’s Mauao and it was all captured on video.

Instagram user @draggonslayer was on the mountain, also known as Mount Maunganui, when he filmed a paraglider appearing to have trouble keeping his footing in the windy conditions.

The video showed the paraglider suddenly being whipped into the air as a gust barrelled through before being dumped unceremoniously against the side of the mountain.

People could be heard yelling, ‘‘Oh s...’’ as the impact occured.

The glider lost his shoe in the thundering impact but was otherwise unhurt.

But the subsequent video was shared to Instagram page @kookslams where it has now received more than 275,000 views and close to 3000 comments.

At the time of the incident, secretary of the Bay of Plenty Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club Dominique Le Sellin said Mauao was a very safe place to paraglide and accidents like the one in the video were rare.

‘‘Generally it is quite safe as it is a coastal environment and we are not riding thermals,’’ she added.

Le Sellin refused to comment about yesterday’s death.

Yesterday’s tragedy is the second involving a paraglider in New Zealand so far this year. 54-year-old David Michael Jongsma from Wanaka crashed into rocks on the side of Wanaka’s Mt Roy in January. Jongsma was a local chiropractor and a member of Save Wanaka Lakefront Reserves Trust.