Paraglider killed in PV

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A paraglider plunged to his death after a gust of wind lifted his chute 100 feet into the air over a rocky Rancho Palos Verdes beach and he lost his grip, authorities said Monday.

Seoung Man Lee, 44, of Torrance was pronounced dead at the scene of the 6:25 p.m. accident Saturday on the beach below the Trump National Golf Club at 1 Ocean Trails Drive, witnesses and the coroner's officials said.

"It was pretty stressful as far as just witnessing it," said Joyce West, who was walking along the beach with her husband. "We were all standing around, `What can we do? What can we do?"'

West said she and her husband walked past some paragliders packing their parachutes shortly before the accident occurred.

When the couple turned around, they looked up and saw the man hanging from the sail as it lifted into the air.

"He was going up so fast," West said.

Coroner's Department Lt. Cheryl MacWillie said witnesses told investigators that Lee was not wearing the harness or his safety helmet as he was inspecting or preparing to store his paragliding apparatus near the shoreline.

He was grasping both steering handles that were secured by lanyards when a gust of wind inflated the canopy, MacWillie said.

"He was lifted from the beach and quickly gained altitude," she said. "After reaching about 100 feet, he lost hold of his grasp and fell to a rocky patch on the ground."

West said Lee lost his grip with his
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left hand first and then the other hand came free.

"I guess he panicked," she said. "Instead of letting go, he just rode up with it. It took seconds to get up. It was really, really fast."

Authorities said Lee was married. His wife was not with him at the beach.
That the report from daily breeze

[frosty]

My condolences to family, friends, and witnesses.

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