A badly injured parachutist was taken by helicopter to The Queen's Medical Center at around 12:45 p.m. yesterday with multiple injuries after his chute snagged a tree on the North Shore.

Emergency Medical Services spokesman Bryan Cheplic said the man was initially in critical condition, but later was upgraded to serious.

The accident happened when the 30-year-old man was attempting to land at Dillingham Air Field at around 12:30 p.m. He got into trouble when he was just a few feet from the ground, according to the Ho-nolulu Fire Department, which responded to the incident.

"He was trying to land on the beach, and his chute got caught in a tree and it whipped him around and it hit him into a wall," said fire department spokesman Capt. Frank Johnson. He said an Emergency Medical Services team was on the scene tending to the man when HFD arrived.

"It just whipped him around and ran him face first right into the wall. So he has some injuries to his back, his hip and his face," Johnson said.

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.