The year has ended tragically for a Dutch kite surfer who got swept up in heavy winds pelting Cape Town on the last day of 2022.

The man, 33, was kitesurfing near Sunrise Beach in Muizenberg when winds swept him up almost 500m and slammed him against poles and buildings.

Melomed Tokai private hospital confirmed to TimesLIVE that the man was admitted in a critical state after being rushed there by ambulance, but succumbed to his injuries.

When he was found after the accident, his equipment was still attached to him and he had multiple extreme head injuries and fractures.

This is considered a freak accident in a sport that is generally safe or prone to minor injuries and not death.

According to research by Dutch kitesurf organisation Kitesurfpro that looked at injury data from 194 kite surfers of different skill levels, the calculated injury rate was 10,5 per 1,000 hours of kitesurfing.

The most common injuries were cuts and abrasions (25,4%), followed by bruises (19.8%), joint sprains (17.5%) and muscle injuries (10.2%). The foot and ankle were the most common injury sites (31.8%), followed by the knee (14.1%) and hand and wrist (10.2%). Most injuries occurred during a kitesurf trick and/or jump.

Though the majority of injuries were minor, serious injuries did occur.

Death from the sport, however, is extremely rare.

TimesLIVE