Screen grab from trending social media video of Lui's incident. Taken from 新一工藤 on YouTube.
Doha, Qatar: A Chinese paragliding enthusiast known as Liu Ge was flying in the Qilian Mountain region in Northern China on May 24, 2025, where he was abruptly ‘sucked’ into the sky by an ‘uplift’ aerial phenomenon making him rapidly ascend to dangerous heights, almost freezes to death, and accidentally violates restricted airspace, according to various media reports.
According to Newsflare, Liu rapidly ascended more than 5km, reaching dangerous height of 8,598 meters as he was exposed to extreme cold temperatures of around -40 degrees Celsius and dangerously low levels of oxygen.
He suffered multiple frostbites and injuries throughout his body as he was covered in thick ice during the rapid ascend, though, he remained conscious throughout the entire process, managed to glide back into safety, and even managed to record it in video.
Expert term this phenomenon ‘convective weather’ which typically occurs within mountainous regions and can push unlucky or inexperienced paragliders vertically upwards more than their weight can support, turning them into uncontrollable fast ascending objects.
According to Channel News Asia (CNA), Chinese authorities have launched an investigation into the accident, as Liu did not file the required flight path or obtain airspace clearance, violating regulations that restrict paragliders to heights below 5km.
Experts and fellow paragliders described Liu’s incident as miraculous, admiring his mental endurance as he remains calm and gets the situation under control.
Such extreme attitude incidents remain rare and often fatal, making Liu’s survival exceptional.
Liu Ge was admitted to a hospital and is recovering from frostbite and other injuries.
