BBC One ‘Close Calls’ to feature NEWSAR’s rescue of a paraglider stuck 70ft up a tree

A rescue carried out by NEWSAR, the North East Wales Search and Rescue team, will feature on BBC One’s Close Calls: On Camera programme tomorrow morning

Nick Knowles presents the programme which “brings to life the stories of ordinary people who have faced extraordinary circumstances” it uses a variety of sources such as video and phone footage shot at the scene and first-hand accounts from the victims and their friends and families

Nick tells the story of a paraglider hanging by a thread in a heavily wooded area of Llangollen after his canopy collapses – that we reported about at the time here.

Emergency services were called to the woodland where a man had become trapped high above the ground after his paraglider crashed into the trees.

One of the NEWSAR volunteers used his professional tree climbing skills to get above the casualty so a rope system could be built to lower him gently to the ground.

The paraglider pilot was examined by a NEWSAR team paramedic who gave him the all-clear leaving able to walk away from a potentially life-threatening situation.

Close Calls: On Camera is on BBC One at 11.45am on Friday, September 7. 

NEWSAR is a volunteer Search and Rescue (Mountain Rescue) Organisation which is on call 24 hours a day 365 days a year.

Their primary operating area is in North East Wales mainly covering the counties of Wrexham, Denbighshire, Flintshire and parts of Conwy and Powys.

The team also regularly assists Mountain Rescue teams elsewhere in North Wales as well as Lowland Search and Rescue teams in Cheshire and Shropshire.

The team also regularly assists Mountain Rescue teams elsewhere in North Wales as well as Lowland Search and Rescue teams in Cheshire and Shropshire.

NEWSAR volunteers also assist Police in searching for vulnerable people who are missing from home or those in need of rescue.

All team members are volunteers and we do not receive any payment for providing this service to the Police.

It costs approximately £25,000 a year to run the Team – this covers fuel and repairs for vehicles, protective equipment for team members, training courses and team equipment such as ropes, stretchers etc.

As NEWSAR is a Registered Charity the vast majority of this money is raised through grants, individual donations, legacies, street collections and collection tins.

For further details of their fundraising activities, visit the Fundraising Page