Canterbury rescue crew witnessed paraglider crash while attending false alarm

It was a case of being in the right place at the right time for a rescue crew who witnessed a paraglider crash into a tree on Banks Peninsula.

Garden City Helicopters, which operates the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, was sent to Le Bons Bay about 1.10pm on Saturday.

Spokesman Simon Duncan said the helicopter was sent because of an accidental beacon activation by another paraglider.

The crew arrived to find no one was in danger, but then watched as another paraglider crashed into a tree.

Duncan said the crew extracted the man from the tree and he was transported to Christchurch Hospital. He suffered serious injuries to his arm.

The injured man knew the other person who had activated his beacon, Duncan said.

"We were the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff in this case."

Duncan said there is no indication of what caused the crash.