Early yesterday afternoon, with clear blue skies in the Chamonix valley, paragliders were out in the skies around Mont Blanc.
At 14:00 hrs, after preparing his Speed Flying wing above the Plan de l'Aiguille take-off under the Aiguille du Midi (2300m), a 30 year old Austrian pilot took-off.
But shortly after taking-off, the paraglider fell sharply back into the hillside.
The Chamonix PGHM mountain rescue were alerted, and their emergency team quickly arrived by helicopter at the scene of the tragedy.
But unfortunately, the young man was already dead when they found him. "We still do not know what happened during take-off, nor if he was in control of his equipment," said a policeman rescuer. The investigation should determine the cause of the accident.
