Radio New Zealand

Emergency services have rescued a paraglider left dangling over a cliff by his parachute for more than three hours on Tuesday.

Whakatane police say the man in his 40s got his parachute caught on a pohutukawa tree overhanging a 50-metre drop near Ohope Beach.

Senior Sergeant Bruce Jenkins says it was poor weather for paragliding and the man was probably blown into the tree by a gust of wind.

"It was a reasonably small pohutukawa tree and the branches up that high were pretty flimsy, so a pretty precarious situation - not something any of us would really want to find ourselves in."

Emergency services set up a complicated system of ropes and pulleys to support the man's weight so they could cut him free.

The paraglider was not injured in the incident.

Listen to Bruce Jenkins on Checkpoint