Paraglider crash site inhabited by great white sharks

National Sea Rescue Institute volunteers rescued a paraglider from a 50m high ridge at Salt River Point in Plettenberg Bay on Thursday, an NSRI spokesman said.

Craig Lambinon said the volunteers were already in the air on a shark patrol when they received a call-out to the ridge.

"Our NSRI medic was dropped off at the location of the accident and the man from Plettenberg Bay was treated for a back injury," said Lambinon.

The man - who asked that his name be withheld - told the NSRI he launched at Keurbooms beach area, but experienced a lull in the wind about halfway to his intended destination at Nature's Valley.
He struggled to correct the parachute's direction and crashed onto a ridge above the beach at Salt River Point, said Lambinon.

He was airlifted to an ambulance at the Plettenberg Bay NSRI station and was transported to a Knysna hospital in a stable condition.

"The operation was made tricky by the location of the accident which was in a dense bush area on a ridge with a 50m drop onto rocks on the sea side," said Lambinon.

Earlier in the day, the NSRI's Ray Farnham said Great White sharks appeared to be flocking to Plett along with the Easter holidaymakers.

He said the bay was experiencing "a visible presence of Great White sharks in what we believe may be greater-than-normal numbers".