Alejandro Rodriguez Fernandez, the brother of acro paragliding stars Raul and Felix, has died following a paragliding accident in Spain. He was 26.
According to Spanish news reports Alejandro died on Sunday 28 March after an accident at his home site of Chinchilla, near Albacete in southern Spain. The same reports say he was there with his family, celebrating his mother’s birthday.
Alejandro was taken by emergency helicopter to the general hospital in Albacete suffering from multiple injuries, but died later on Monday morning.
Alejandro had flown since he was 15-years-old and came from a family steeped in the sport. His father runs a paragliding school in Albacete while his brothers and cousin, Horacio Llorens, are acro stars.
He won a team gold in the first World Acro Championships in 2007 and was ranked 26th in the world when he died.
An inquiry into the accident is expected.
Separately, in the north of the country, an ex-pat British paraglider pilot died after landing in the sea near the small fishing village of Orio on Saturday 27 March.
Keith Duffy, 53, was an experienced pilot who had lived locally for several years and taught English in San Sebastian. According to reports a witness to the accident tried to reach him but was forced back by the waves.
Keith’s body was eventually recovered from the sea by police helicopter and he was pronounced dead at the scene
Britain’s Daily Telegraph reported that Keith’s friend, Jose Mateos, said he was “an extremely popular guy”.
“We’re devastated by what’s happened,” he said. “He wasn’t a person who took risks. We won’t know for sure what happened until the investigation is complete.”
Cross Country magazine sends heartfelt condolences to the families of both pilots.
• This report has been written from online news reports in Spain and the UK. If pilots know more, or different, please post below or email.
• Got news? Send it to us at news@xccontent.local.
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