E-Paper
Crashed Singaporean paraglider found dead in Dhauladhar mountains, search on for missing Spanish man
An operation is on to retrieve his body of the Singaporean with the help of a helicopter. Search is also on for another paraglider, Jos Lewis (40) of Spain, missing since Sunday.
A missing Singaporean paraglider’s body was found in the Dhauladhar mountains overlooking Himachal Pradesh’s Palampur Valley on Tuesday, an official said.
The paraglider, identified as Kok Choonk Na (53), went missing on Monday.
“The Singaporean was registered as a free flyer and went missing after taking off from Bir-Billing on Monday,” said Baijnath sub-divisional magistrate Vikas Shukla, adding he probably lost control due to strong winds and crash-landed on the other side of the mountains.
An operation is on to retrieve his body with the help of a helicopter, the official said.
Meanwhile, search is also on for another paraglider, Jos Lewis (40) of Spain, missing since Sunday.
Lewis had been spotted on a hill between 4747-meter high Thamsar Pass and Bara-Bhangal village by an airborne rescue team, which had established contact with him and found he suffered a leg injury while crash-landing.
A paramotor had been sent to drop food and water to the trapped paraglider. “However, contact couldn’t be established with him today and search is on to trace him,” said Shukla.
This was the fourth accident involving paraglider pilots. Earlier, a Russian and a Latvian crash-landed in Jhatingari and Barot in Mandi district respectively and were rescued by locals. Both are currently admitted in hospital.
The Bir-Billing valley is hosting Paragliding Pre-World Cup from October 27 to November 3. Around 160 pilots, including foreigners, have registered for the competition. A large number of foreign free flyers have also come to the valley for adventure sports.
