China authorities investigating paraglider who was sucked into the clouds
He survived the chilling ordeal but authorities are looking into potential regulatory violations, Chinese media outlet Global Times reported on Wednesday (May 28).
The man, known as Liu Ge, was paragliding in the Qilian Mountain region of Northwest China's Qinghai and Gansu provinces on Saturday when he was caught in a 'cloud suck' - a phenomenon where paragliders experience a significant lift.
The moment was captured on camera, showing his face and clothes covered in frost. He remained conscious throughout the video while controlling the parachute.
Liu was not wearing an oxygen mask and was seen to suffer from extensive frostbite.
He managed to control the parachute and landed safely in what local media reports are calling a miraculous survival.
'I just kept communicating over the radio the entire time," he told local media.
An experienced paraglider surnamed Ou told local media that participants typically prepare cold-weather gear as temperatures at 2,000m are already frigid. At 8,000m, temperatures drop to around -40 degrees Celsius with critically low oxygen levels.
While there are global cases of cloud suction incidents reaching 6,000 to 7,000m, few people survive such extreme altitudes, Ou said.
'This is truly miraculous. His mental resilience was extraordinary,' Ou added.
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Yet she pressed on to speak in English, even when I posed questions in her mother tongue. She was determined to prove that she could be heard and understood in Singapore's lingua franca. "(There were) many things I needed to learn from my patients and my colleagues," she said of overcoming the language barrier. In her initial years here, Ms Miao's friends were limited to other nurses from China who had come to Singapore for work and she admitted that it often got lonely without the presence of her family. To fill her spare time, she often had a dictionary by her side, looking up words and practising their pronunciations. She had some help, too. "My Malay patients and teammates taught me the Malay language. The older people taught me Hokkien and Teochew," she said. She does not consider herself fluent in these languages, of course, but her working knowledge of key phrases have been invaluable in her job. "I can use some Malay to ask patients (about) their symptoms, like, 'Ada sakit?' 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It felt like the embodiment of the culture of acceptance and harmony that she had come to experience and love about the nation, and that is her favourite thing about Singapore. "People from different cultures, different races, different religions – they can work and live together side by side," she said. She recalled how heartwarming it was when her Muslim neighbours offered her homecooked food to eat during their Hari Raya Puasa celebrations. To her, being "Singaporean" transcends where one was born. "It's about showing your kindness, respecting differences and showing strength in unity. "It's being hardworking, practical … and contributing to society." It is also about a shared language, something she knew intrinsically would be key to her integration into society here. Singlish quips such as "cannot tahan" (cannot bear it) and particles such as "lah" and "lor" now come naturally to her. Then, of course, there is the food culture: growing to love curry puffs, laksa, and chilli crab – dishes she once could not fathom enjoying. On one of his visits to Singapore, when her husband expressed puzzlement at her liking for those dishes, she said to him with amusement: "People can change all the time." Ms Miao will celebrate her 60th birthday just two weeks after Singapore celebrates its 60th year of independence. And to the naturalised citizen, it feels very much like it is a joint celebration of a milestone together. Asked if she has any retirement plans, she said she was hoping that she and her husband would spend the rest of their days in Singapore eventually. Their daughter, now in her early 30s, has started her own family in Australia. For now though, Ms Miao is looking forward to becoming a better nurse and hopes that Singapore retains the modern exuberance that made it the shangri-la of her youth. 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CNA
3 days ago
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