Sarah Slater
An injured paraglider is recovering in hospital after an accident on Mount Leinster which straddles the Carlow and Wexford border on Saturday evening.
The paraglider had to be airlifted to hospital from the Blackstairs Mountain range on Saturday evening.
The South East Mountain Rescue Association (SEMRA) were called out to the scene to assist gardaí, ambulance crews and the Air Corps to recover the injured man.
The paraglider was treated by paramedics at the scene for a serious back injury and then transferred by the Air Corps 112 helicopter to hospital.
In a statement SEMRA said: “(There was a) callout to an injured paraglider with a suspected back injury, after falling near Nine Stones car park, Mount Leinster, Co Carlow. The casualty was transferred to the National Ambulance Service (NAS) and then to a waiting Irish Air Corps helicopter A112. Also on scene were garda units from multiple bases.
“We wish the casualty well and hopefully he will make a full recovery. Another fine example of multi-agency working.”
Mount Leinster
Mount Leinster is a popular site for para- and hang-gliders. Mt Leinster is 794 metres in height and is the fifth-highest mountain in Leinster.
There is a transmitter on the peak of Mount Leinster transmitter. It is the highest transmission site in the country, and was one of the original five main RTÉ television transmitters when it opened on low power in December 1962.
The transmission site is a popular launch location for hang gliding and for radio controlled gliders. In 2003, a hang glider pilot died from injuries sustained in the crash landing of his flight launched from the mountain.There is a memorial at the peak of the mountain.
A paraglider and father-of-two, Rafal Skora, was killed in an accident in the Wicklow mountains in May 2019. His body was found in a field at Ballinacor Estate, Wicklow, together with wreckage from his paragliding equipment.
The alarm had been raised on Saturday night when Rafal failed to return home to his home, in the north Dublin suburb of Artane, after a day out paragliding with a friend.
