Turkish mayor falls while paragliding

RİZE

Rize Mayor Nurullah Çakır (R) paraglides in the company of a trainer. DHA photo

The mayor of the Black Sea province of Rize has suffered a minor fall while attempting to paraglide in the company of a trainer, Anatolia news agency has reported.

Rize Mayor Nurullah Çakır was running to gather pace before taking off when the steep hills caused him to tumble and fall over. He was taken to a nearby hospital but was not injured in any way, officials told Anatolia news agency. He is set to remain in hospital for some time for routine checks.

Çakır had previously paraglided twice before, and reportedly sees the activity as a good use for the Rize mountains.

“When I became mayor, I asked myself why we weren’t paragliding with all these mountains,” Çakır said. “So we did our inspections and realized that we could. I sometimes join the trainers. It isn’t to do with courage, but rather to set an example and to make people notice paragliding.”