Injured paraglider able to walk to safety after night in the bush

The crash occurred near Mt Cheeseman ski field in Canterbury. Image / Google Maps

A man in his 20s who crashed his paraglider near the Mt Cheeseman ski field in Canterbury has been able to walk to safety this morning.

Police spoke to the paraglider by phone about 10pm last night, after they were told about 6.10pm he had crash-landed 100km west of Christchurch.

"The helicopter hadn't been able to locate him but he said he had food and water supplies ... and would walk himself out," a spokeswoman said.

Search and Rescue were put on standby overnight just in case, but police were able to direct him to a safe place by phone.

Police confirmed he had walked out this morning, despite suffering a minor leg injury in the crash, and was at Flockhill Station.

"Ambo are going out there to give him the once-over to check he's okay," police said.

Two paragliders have been seriously injured in crashes recently - one at Treble Cone ski field, near Wanaka, in January, and the second in Raglan last week.

In December, Tauranga man Richard Leslie Marriner died in a paragliding crash at
Mount Maunganui.

The 48-year-old's death came 10 months after reality TV star Josh Tingey was killed when he crashed while paragliding at Mount Maunganui.