Greater Noida man falls to death while paragliding in Himachal, case against pilot

A 26-year-old tourist from Greater Noida died after falling from a tandem paraglider barely six minutes after take-off at Himachal Pradesh's Bir Billing. Police suspect a safety hook failure and have registered a case of causing death by negligence against the pilot.

In Short

• Victim fell 6 minutes after tandem paraglider flight took-off at Bir Billing
• His body was recovered from dense forest near designated landing site
• Preliminary probe suggested failure of safety hook and lock, cops probe incident

A 26-year-old tourist from Greater Noida died after falling from a tandem paraglider barely six minutes after take-off at Bir Billing in Himachal Pradesh's Kangra district. Preliminary investigations have pointed to a possible failure of the paraglider's safety hook and lock, following which police registered a case of causing death by negligence against the pilot.

The victim, identified as Shubham Dobliyal, was holidaying in Himachal Pradesh with his sister and three other relatives when the accident took place on the evening of November 10. Shubham was flying with a local tandem pilot at Bir Billing, a popular paragliding destination, when he fell from the paraglider mid-air. He hard-landed in a dense forest near the designated landing site.

The pilot, Vinay Kumar, managed to land safely and subsequently alerted other paragliding pilots about the passenger's fall, following which a search operation was launched. Shubham's body was recovered from the forest late in the evening. He was taken to Baijnath Civil Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

According to Kangra Superintendent of Police (SP) Kulbhushan Verma, the Bir police station received information about the accident through the emergency helpline 112. A police team immediately reached the spot and initiated rescue and investigation proceedings.

Preliminary investigations have pointed to a possible failure of the paraglider's safety hook and lock, which may have caused the tourist to fall. The police have registered a case against Vinay, a resident of Kotli village in Kangra district.

An investigation is underway to establish the exact sequence of events and determine the circumstances that led to the safety mechanism's failure.

The victim's body was handed over to his family after a post-mortem examination.

2 PARAGLIDING-RELATED DEATHS IN KANGRA THIS YEAR

The November 10 incident is the second paragliding-related fatality in Kangra district this year, according to SP Kulbhushan Verma.

Earlier, a Dutch national died while undertaking a solo paragliding flight near Yol. Bad weather and pilot negligence were among the factors cited in connection with that accident.

The latest death has once again brought the safety of tandem paragliding operations in Himachal Pradesh under scrutiny. In tandem flights, tourists depend on trained pilots and safety equipment throughout the journey, making equipment inspections, harness checks and adherence to operating procedures crucial.

The latest accident also came amid another recent incident involving a paraglider who took off from Bir Billing. On November 10, a Russian paraglider pilot lost control during a flight and became entangled in 33-kV high-tension electricity wires on the Mandi-Padhar highway.

The pilot remained suspended nearly 200 feet above the ground for around three hours before a joint operation involving the NDRF, SDRF, police and fire services rescued him.

- Ends
(with inputs from Pooja Sharma in Dharamshala)