A man was airlifted to hospital on Wednesday after something went wrong while he was paramotoring over the White Rock beach.

Officials have provided few details, but witnesses who saw the accident said he'd been flying over the area at low tide when the motor quit. He plummeted hundreds of feet down onto the sand.

The man had been paramotoring – also known as powered paragliding – a sport that propels a paraglider with through the air with a small motor attached to a chair-like frame.

His parachute could be seen spread across the sand when CTV's Chopper 9 flew over the scene, and at least three officers were dragging away what appeared to be a motorized apparatus from the beach.

A witness who was walking his dog on the beach at the time said he was watching the man "flying in the sky with his motorized propelled kite," when he heard the motor cut out.

Brian Webber said he saw the man start spiraling to the ground, estimating a fall of about 200 feet. Another witness, Mark Hinkson, told CTV News estimated the man had been up about 500 feet.

Hinkson said he heard the motor sputter briefly, right before the man hit the ground.

Both Hinkson and Webber called 911, then ran over to help the injured person lying on the sand. They said his legs were severely broken, and one of his arms seemed stuck. The man couldn't move one of his hands and had a cut on his nose, but was conscious and able to talk to those who crowded around him.

"He was just mangled," Hinkson said.

The 911 operator told them to keep talking to him to keep him awake, so three bystanders kept up the conversation with him until officials arrived. He said all three bystanders were bothered by how long it took officials to get to the scene.

"We gave them very specific directions… They should have known exactly where to park," Hinkson said.

The witnesses saw the ambulance go past the area and turn around, then when they got to the parking lot, they waited about five minutes for first responders to leave the parking lot and head out onto the beach.

"It just took so long. We're all frustrated because this guy is mangled, right? And having a hard time breathing now," Hinkson said.

He said they told the dispatcher he was struggling to breathe, but he felt that first responders weren't in a rush to reach the injured man.

"The eyewitnesses, we were all running there. But the ambulance service, the fire department, nobody was running," he said.

But B.C. Health Services said it has no problem with the way paramedics dealt with the case.

"I think the average person doesn't really understand what is going on once paramedics get to a scene," executive vice president Linda Lupini said.

Firefighters, three ambulance crews, an air ambulance and a Coast Guard hovercraft all went to the crash on the beach, but the danger from the tides had to be assessed before paramedics went out on the sand.

"We understand that bystanders don't always know why paramedics aren't racing and rushing. They're trained to be professional and they're trained to be calm," Lupini explained.

"This was handled very well."

Crews did reach the injured man, who was treated by first responders on the ground. An air ambulance landed on the sand and the man was loaded onto the helicopter while strapped to a stretcher. He was taken to Royal Columbian Hospital for treatment, but police said his injuries were relatively minor considering his crash landing.

The day after the crash, officials said he was still in critical condition but considered stable.

A man who operates a local paramotoring website but did not want his name used told CTV that the man who was injured had been flying in bad conditions, and that it was too windy to be safe.

He said the man was using acrobatic maneuvers that pilots aren't supposed to do on their own, and should only be done over water to be safe. He also said there should be a boat to spot the paramotor pilot from below, and that he didn't think there was a boat in this case.

From witness accounts, it seemed as though the man injured was alone at the time.

With files from CTV Vancouver's Mi-Jung Lee, Sheila Scott and Ben Miljure