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Chinese paraglider claims to survive accidental 8,000m-high flight

Joel Guinto
BBC News
Douyin/CCTV A paraglider covered in ice, wearing a helmet, goggles, big gloves and equipment, holding onto the ropes, floats in front of a blue sky and white cloudsDouyin/CCTV
A still from the viral video which purported to show a paraglider flying at 8,000m

A Chinese paraglider has claimed to have survived being accidentally propelled 8,500m (27,800ft) into the sky above north-west China, state media report.

Peng Yujiang, 55, says he was testing new equipment at 3,000m above sea level, over the Qilian mountains, when a rare updraft or air current known as a "cloud suck" pulled him about 5,000m higher into a cloud formation.

Saturday's events were filmed on a camera mounted on Mr Peng's glider and has gone viral after being posted on Douyin, China's version of TikTok.

The footage, which showed Mr Peng holding onto the glider's controls with his face and much of his body covered in ice crystals, has since been questioned by US broadcaster NBC.

NBC said the logo of an artificial intelligence company had been cropped out of the footage.

The BBC has been unable to independently verify the video, but the incident was widely reported in China, with Mr Peng giving an interview to journalists.

"It was terrifying... Everything was white. I couldn't see any direction. Without the compass, I wouldn't have known which way I was going. I thought I was flying straight, but in reality, I was spinning," he told China Media Group.

Mr Peng said he narrowly survived death as oxygen is thin at that altitude - slightly lower than the 8,849m peak of Mount Everest. Temperatures can also fall to -40C.

"I wanted to come down quickly, but I just couldn't. I was lifted higher and higher until I was inside the cloud," he said.

Mr Peng, who has been paragliding for four and a half years, said he might have lost consciousness during his descent.

As a result of the footage, Mr Peng has been suspended for six months because the flight was unauthorised, state-run Global Times reported. Officials are also investigating the incident.

Update 30 May 2025: An earlier version of this article included a video of footage shared on Chinese social media and broadcast on state television purporting to show the paraglider's flight. This has been removed while we investigate further after questions were raised about its authenticity.