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US base jumper’s body found 4 days after he went missing near Spiti’s Tashigang
Police in Kaza had received information about the base jumper, who had been wandering in Spiti Valley, going missing on June 13
Four days after a base jumper from the US went missing in Spiti Valley, his body was found in a deep trench between Kee and Tashigang on Sunday.
The 31-year-old US national was identified as Trevor Bockstahler.
Notably, the wife of retired Indian Air Force officer Wing Commander Ashutosh Chandera Chopra, Ritu Chopra, an experienced pilot who had embarked on a solo flight, had also died in an accident in Bir Billing. Having taken off from Bir Billing,he had crash-landed near Thati village in Baijnath tehsil.
A 70-year-old Polish paraglider pilot, Andrzej Kulawik, had also died after embarking on a solo flight from Bir in October last year.
Police in Kaza had received information about the base jumper, who had been wandering in Spiti Valley, going missing on June 13. Subsequently, a search and rescue team was formed and sent into the field to locate him.
According to police, a bike hired by the said person on the day of the accident was found in an isolated place near Tashigang but there was no information on his whereabouts.
Police officials said a drone provided by the Dogra regiment of the Indian Army was sent out and a parachute was found stuck in a trench between Keeh and Tashigang on June 14.
Lahaul and Spiti superintendent of police (SP) Mayank Chaudhary said, “As Trevor was a base jumper, there was a possibility that the parachute might be his. So, on June 15, a team of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), who are well trained and experts in carrying out rescue operations in this type of terrain and conditions, set out. On Sunday, they found the dead body of the US national in the trench and retrieved it.”
The SP said the police department was in regular touch with the US Embassy and the information about the body being retrieved has also been shared with them.
“After completing the codal formalities, the dead body shall be handed over to them,” he added.
