Picture by Max Hess

A paraglider was saved by a helicopter crew in a dramatic cliff rescue.

Coastguards now believe the victim was lucky to be alive and unharmed after he crash-landed on the treacherous 350ft cliff face at Capel.

The glider had been trapped 150ft above the base in a canopy of trees and had to be winched to safety by an RAF crew.

A Coastguard spokesman said: “He was a very lucky man. We have had people seriously injured paragliding from those cliffs. He could even have been killed.”

The drama happened at about 3pm today (Aug 31) close to the Battle of Britain memorial when the paraglider was spotted by volunteer coastwatchers who raised the alarm.

Dover Coastguard at Langdon Cliffs co-ordinated the rescue, which also involved coastguards from Folkestone and Dover, paramedics and firefighters.

Two fire engines from Dover and Folkestone were called along with a specialist line rescue team from Deal.

Folkestone station firefighter Andy Batchelor said: “Due to the difficult access it was decided it was best to call in an RAF helicopter.”

A helicopter from RAF Wattisham in Suffolk was scrambled and a crewman, lowered down by a winch, reached the victim and carried him to safety.

The victim was placed in the helicopter, which then landed on the memorial site.

He was checked by an ambulance crew and found to be unhurt.

The Dover Coastguard spokesman said: “We are not exactly sure how he got into difficulty but it’s possibly he had flown from the cliffs.

“We warn people carrying out this activity to contact us so that we know they are there.

“He had been rescued 40 minutes after he had been seen, but if he had not been discovered in time he could have been trapped well into the next day.”

The victim had been spotted by members of the National Coastwatch Institution from their lookout at Copt Point, Folkestone.

This voluntary organisation looks out for people in distress at sea or along the shoreline.