Photo courtesy of Pingtung County Bureau of Fire and Emergency Services

Taipei, Dec. 17 (CNA) A certified South Korean paraglider fell approximately 100 meters to his death while paragliding in Pingtung County on Monday.

The Pingtung County Bureau of Fire and Emergency Services said in a statement that the victim is believed to have fallen to the ground at around 3 p.m. before being rushed to the hospital with no vital signs, where he was pronounced dead.

The person who runs the paragliding venue in Sandimen where the accident occurred, Su Pei-lun (蘇沛倫), said the 49-year-old victim surnamed Mun (文) was in the air for around 10-20 minutes when others in the air saw his parachute collapse, causing him to plummet around 100 meters into hillside bushes.

He did not show any signs of life after his fall, Su said.

Mun was believed to have held a paraglider's license that showed him to have over five years of paragliding experience, or the equivalent of 1,000 hours of flight time, Su said.

The victim was familiar with his surroundings, having visited the same paragliding field in Sandimen three times in the past, according to Su.

(By Kuo Chih-hsuan and William Yen)
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