An RAF helicopter above the scene at Capel. Picture: Max Hess

A paraglider had a miraculous escape after crash-landing on a 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 in a dramatic rescue involving an RAF crew.

Coastguards said the victim is "a very lucky man" to be alive and unharmed after the crash.

A Coastguard spokesman said: "We have had people seriously injured paragliding from those cliffs. He could even have been killed."

The drama happened at about 3pm Monday close to the Battle of Britain memorial when the paraglider was spotted by volunteers from National Coastwatch who raised the alarm.

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

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. Amazingly, he was found to be uninjured.

The Coastguard spokesman added: "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."

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