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Paraglider left dangling from edge of crane

A paraglider trying to land ended up being rescued by fire services in Austria after being left dangling 30 metres off the ground on the edge of a crane.

Published: 6 July 2016 09:10 CEST
Paraglider left dangling from edge of crane
FF Hollersbach

The 21-year-old had been paragliding in the region of Hollersbach in the state of Salzburg at the weekend when he lost control and started tumbling towards the earth.

Luckily for him, his paragliding sail got caught on a crane at a construction site. He was left dangling there for some time and was only rescued after passers-by heard his cries for help.

“The man can be happy that he stayed hanging on the crane. If he was to fall to the ground, the outcome would definitely have been worse,” said vice-commander of the Hollersbach fire service Andreas Kaltenhauser.

Kaltenhauser confirmed that man received no injuries but was “shocked” by the incident.

Paraglider dies in Austria

Meanwhile a German paraglider died in Austria on Monday afternoon after getting caught up in a thermal air pocket and crashing 100 metres to the ground in the district of Villach.

Witnesses say immediately after he took to the air his paraglide malfunctioned, sending the him into a spin and causing him to fall. Paramedics were called out but he died from his injuries at the scene.

 

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CLIMATE CRISIS

Austria ‘likely to be ice-free within 45 years’

Austria is set to become largely "ice-free" within 45 years, the country's Alpine Club warned Friday, as two of its glaciers last year melted by more than 100 metres.

Published: 6 April 2024 12:17 CEST
Austria 'likely to be ice-free within 45 years'

Amid growing concerns over the effects of extreme warming on glaciers around the world, the latest report by the Austrian Alpine Club (OeAV) showed that rapid glacial retreat over the past seven years had accelerated.

The study found that 93 Austrian glaciers observed by the organisation retreated by 23.9 metres (78.4 feet) on average last year, marking the third-biggest glacier melt since measurements began in 1891.

Two of the glaciers showed especially drastic declines, with the Pasterze shrinking by 203.5 metres and the Rettenbachferner by 127 metres.

The 2023 readings came after the worst year on record for glacier melt in Austria, with glaciers shrinking by 28.7 metres (94.2 feet) on average in 2022.

Faced with extreme warming in the Alps, glacial ice in Austria could largely disappear within 45 years, the Alpine Club warned, adding that restrictive climate protection measures were introduced too late.

“In 40 to 45 years, all of Austria will be pretty much ice-free,” Andreas Kellerer-Pirklbauer, head of the Alpine Club’s glacier measurement service, told reporters on Friday.

The OeAV urged increased protection of glaciers as part of overall efforts to sustain biodiversity, noting that expansions of ski resorts had put Alpine regions “under constant pressure”.

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), major glaciers worldwide suffered the largest loss of ice since records began in 1950, “driven by extreme melt in both western North America and Europe”.

In Switzerland, where the WMO is based, Alpine glaciers have lost 10 percent of their volume in the past two years alone.

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