Horror moment woman tourist plunges to her death in ‘illegal’ hang glider crash

World News
  • Bookmark

    • Don’t miss a thing! Sign up to the Daily Star’s newsletter

    We have more newsletters

    A woman who was enjoying a flight on a microlight aircraft died when a suspected fault on the airframe sent her plunging to the ground.

    Anna Kozyreva was visiting the mountainous Adygea region in the south-east of Russia.

    She had paid for a tandem flight with an instructor who, it was later discovered, did not have the appropriate licence to carry passengers.

    READ MORE: Horror bridge collapse as over 100 people confirmed dead with 170 injured

    A series of horrific images show the moment when Anna, 43, and the unnamed instructor fell from the sky.

    A suspected wing “fracture” on the motorised hang glider led to it plunging “like a stone” into a gorge with smoke visible from the stricken aircraft.

    Wreckage at the densely-wooded crash site burst into flames on impact.

    The dead pilot, who was aged 48, has not been named.

    Emergency services were called to the scene in the Maykop district of Adygea republic in southern Russia.

    • Over 150 killed in horror Halloween crowd crush after 'celebrity' rumours

    Reports said a “deformed wing” was suspected to be the cause of the incident but a law enforcement investigation is underway into the cause of the tragic crash.

    The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case.

    “The pilot of the aircraft had no licence to fly it and no right to provide paid services,” said a statement.

    “According to preliminary information, the crash was caused by a [wing] fracture, after which the aircraft fell into a gorge.

    “The pilot and his passenger were killed.”

    • Russia accuses Royal Navy saboteurs of 'terrorist attack' on Nord Stream gas pipeline

    Official UK figures suggest the chance of dying in a hang-gliding incident is about one in 116,000 flights. That makes the sport more risky than scuba diving and much more dangerous than driving a car.

    A British man died near Mendlesham Airstrip, in Suffolk, earlier this year after a hang gliding accident.

    Marc Asquith, chairman of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, said at the time : "At this stage, it is very early so we don't have the details. It is our usual routine to conduct a full investigation and find out exactly what happened.

    "Hang gliders are designed and as well-tested as your holiday airliner. There's a really good safety system in place, but sometimes pilots can make mistakes. In any form of aircraft, there's a limited form of risk.

    "We are always saddened when we lose one of our members."

    READ NEXT:

    • Harry 'doesn't want war' with King Charles as 'grenade effect' would distract Sussexes
    • Halloween party chaos with 153 dead as bodies strewn across floor in reported stampede
    • One of most fly-tipped estates in Britain has locals fuming at 'disgusting' rubbish
    • Shocking scenes as bodies of the dead line the street after tragic Halloween stampede
    • Elle Brooke hosts 'mother of all Halloween parties' in surprising costume nod to Eminem
    • Russia
    • Plane Crash

    Source: Read Full Article

    ,