A serious car accident in Namibia on Monday, 4 January has resulted in the death of French hang glider pilot Jean Charles Balembois, and left fellow compatriots Gil Souviron and Patrick Chopard badly injured. They are being treated in a hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The pilots were part of a convoy on their way from Namibian capital Windhoek to Burgsdorf, the base camp farm where top hang glider pilots from France, Switzerland, Spain and Germany were convening to fly the world class, potentially record-producing, 6,000 m cloudbase skies of Namibia.
Only 500 m short of the entrance to the farm, the car lost control and rolled several times, killing Jean Charles outright. Surgeon and German pilot Clemens was in a car just five minutes behind. He provided first aid at the scene and liaised with the French embassy to evacuate the two wounded pilots 130 km to a clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Gil suffered two fractures in his arm. Patrick has several fractures to both legs and ankles and has been operated on. His spleen was removed due to internal bleeding.
We send our sincere condolences to the friends and family of Jean Charles, and wish Gil and Patrick the speediest of recoveries.
• Got news? Send it to us at news@xccontent.local. Fair use applies to this article: if you reproduce it online, please credit correctly and link to xcmag.com or the original article. No reproduction in print. Copyright remains with Cross Country magazine. Thanks!
Subscribe to the world’s favourite hang gliding and paragliding magazine
