Former Otago Uni student killed in French Alps paragliding accident

A New Zealand woman who went to high school and university in Dunedin has died in a paragliding accident in the French Alps.

Experienced paraglider Charlotte O'Leary was holidaying in Europe with her brother when the fatal accident happened last Thursday.

It's understood that her body is being repatriated to New Zealand.

"We are aware of the death of a New Zealand citizen following a paragliding accident in France and are providing assistance to the family," a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) told The New Zealand Herald.

When approached by the Herald, her family this week declined to comment.

O'Leary attended Columba College and then studied medicine at the University of Otago. She worked at Hauora Tairāwhiti, previously Tairawhiti District Health, from 2017-19, and had been living in Queenstown.

She had planned to return to New Zealand for the winter ski season at Coronet Peak.

NZ SKI chief executive Paul Anderson said O'Leary was an experienced emergency doctor who was coming back for her second season with the mountain's medical rescue team.

"People are devastated," said Anderson.

"Losing anyone in these circumstances is very tragic and she was a really talented and valuable member of the medical team.

"Our sympathies go to the family – it's tragic."

In 2015, another experienced New Zealand paraglider, 38-year-old Aaron Cooke, died in a horror crash attempting a high-altitude launch in the French Alps.

Cooke plunged to his death taking off the Argentiere Glacier on the Mont Blanc massif.

It was understood that his foot struck a pinnacle of ice as he tried to pass between two hanging glaciers and he fell to his death 30m below.

A paragliding partner who witnessed the tragedy immediately alerted Chamonix search and rescue. Cooke was pronounced dead by emergency service workers when they reached the site.