Shropshire paraglider breaks his back in California cliff crash
A Shropshire paraglider has broken his back in a crash while flying over cliffs in San Diego in America.
Video from ABC 10 News in California
Mark Dann, 46, who runs Beyond Extreme Paragliding from his home in the county was flying with a group of friends in California when the accident happened on Sunday.
He crashed against cliffs, with rescuers having to climb down to reach him, before he was airlifted to hospital.
Speaking from his hospital bed Mr Dann, from Melverley, between Shrewsbury and Oswestry, said he hoped he would be back flying within months.
He said surgeons had used one of his lower ribs to fuse his vertebrae together. He is expected to stay in hospital for about four weeks.
Mr Dann admitted that he took off from the Torrey Pines Gliderport in San Diego when there was no wind, something he said he tells his students they must never do.
Watch a BBC Country File clip featuring Beyond Extreme Paragliding in Shropshire
