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Paragliding flight in Bavaria (symbolic image)

Photo: Matthias Balk/ dpa

An 80-year-old student pilot crashed during paragliding training in the Allgäu region and was seriously injured. According to police, the accident occurred on Friday in Bolsterlang in the Oberallgäu.

During the flight exercise, the elderly gentleman had lost control of his paraglider at an altitude of 250 meters. The man did not trigger the emergency parachute, although the flight instructor gave him the instruction to do so several times over the radio. The reason for this is unclear.

Seriously injured in hospital

Whether the 80-year-old was able to react at all is the subject of the investigation. As the police announced, the fall was slowed down by a tree, so that the man survived the accident with several broken bones. The student pilot was seriously injured and taken by rescue helicopter to Kempten Hospital.