NEWS

Kite-surfer injured

CHRIS HILL

02 March 2008 19:37

A kite-surfer was injured when a gust of wind lifted him 30ft off the ground and smashed him into the dunes at Hunstanton on Saturday.

The air ambulance was called to the beach near the lifeboat station at 12.30pm after the accident left the 47-year-old man with head and chest injuries.

The man had harnessed himself to the powerful kite in preparation for the extreme sport, but had not reached the water.

Paramedics said he was knocked out for several minutes, but was conscious by the time he was flown to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn.

East Anglian Air Ambulance crewman John Stone said: “They have these seven-metre power kites, which are more like a parachute.

“There were eight or 10 kite surfers on the beach and it made it difficult to land

“The wind was 26mph and gusting to 35mph, and it was very bumpy in the helicopter. It launched him up in the air and threw him back on the ground.”

Mr Stone said he had attended five or six similar accidents in his career.