Austria: paraglider gets into a thunderstorm and out of the flight path

Symbolic picture: A paraglider flies through the clouds over a summit

The good news first: "The man survived the 40 very turbulent minutes without injuries," said the police. Before that, the man must have died a thousand deaths. It started in the middle of a thunderstorm and became the plaything of thermals.

After starting on the 1004 meter high Grünberg on Lake Traunsee, he climbed steeply. The storm clouds sucked the paraglider and its attachment hundreds of meters into the air. It was quickly 1,300 to 1,500 meters above the ground and drifted south towards the Traunstein summit.

Several people watched the incident and sounded the alarm. The man's umbrella was folded in several times before it unfolded again, the police in Upper Austria reported on Saturday evening.

In a second storm cloud he was then sucked eight kilometers west. After all, he only got firm ground under his feet again at Altmünster on the other side of the Traunsee.

Löw / dpa