Paraglider tells of ‘miracle’ escape after crash-landing in Brazil
A PARAGLIDER from London had a “miracle” escape after crash-landing in the Brazilian bush.
Thomas Antalffy, 54, was knocked unconscious and broke his back after coming down during a flight over Governador Valadares, around 280 miles north of Rio De Janeiro.
The father-of three, an inventor and entrepreneur, woke up about 12 hours later covered in blood in the middle of “the bush”.
But Mr Antalffy, who lives in Kew with his family, managed to pack up his parachute, carry the 20kg bag to the nearest highway and hitchhike back to his hotel in central Brazil.
He even took a selfie of his injuries — despite it later emerging he had broken his back and fractured his skull.
His fellow enthusiasts, who were on a trip to the host city of the World Paragliding Championships, had contacted police when he failed to return to the hotel on February 23, the day of the accident. When Mr Antalffy did make it back to the hotel the next day he was initially convinced he had only suffered minor injuries but was admitted to hospital several days later.
He is now out of hospital but cannot yet travel back to the UK because doctors are monitoring his head injury.
His family today praised his “incredible sense of survival”. His wife Anita Dangel struggled to contact her husband on the phone from London for two days before finally reaching the hotel and learning of his accident.
Ms Dangel, a designer, told the Standard: “It is a miracle he is OK, I have never been so worried in all my life. It’s just an incredible sense of survival he got to his hotel the way he did.” She added: “He loves paragliding and has already told me he wants to go again.”
Mr Antalffy is the founder of medical technology company Smart Respiratory Products.