A British expat has died in a paraglider accident in New Zealand.

Ben Letham, 26, was on a solo flight when he came down in the grounds of Queenstown primary school after taking off from the South Island town’s Skyline gondola.

Gavin Taylor, the co-director of GForce Paragliding, said Letham, originally from Lochgilphead in Argyll, had been flying for around six years and was a full-time pilot with the company.

Taylor said conditions at the time of the incident had been calm and he did not know what had gone wrong. “Ben would have done thousands of flights at this site, both commercially and recreationally, but on this day he was flying with his own equipment using a single person wing,” he said.

“Our whole team is absolutely devastated by his death. He was a really nice guy, a talented pilot and we’re stunned to lose one of the youngest members of our team with his whole life ahead of him.

“We’ve lost a close colleague and friend who will be very sadly missed. Our thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to his partner, friends and family.”

Witnesses said he had gone head over heels and fell before landing on his back.

Taylor said Letham had been well known in the Queenstown community and a volunteer with the Alpine cliff rescue team.

The company is cooperating with the authorities investigating his death. It has temporarily suspended operations as a mark of respect.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed the death. A spokesman said: “We are providing assistance to the family of a British man who sadly died in Queenstown, New Zealand.”