Austrian paraglider rescued from higher reaches of Dhauladhar in Himachal’s Kangra

Austrian paraglider Jacob Krammer, who was stranded in the higher reaches of the Dhauladhar in Chhota Bhangal valley of Kangra district at a height of 14,000 feet, was rescued by a team of the Bir Billing Paragliding Association (BPA) on Tuesday morning.

Krammer went missing on Monday morning after taking off from Billing. The BPA launched a search operation in the higher reaches of the Dhauladhar on Monday evening.

It is the second paragliding mishap in the past two days.

Briefing mediapersons here on Tuesday, Anurag Sharma, president of the BPA, said that as soon as it was reported to the BPA that the Austrian paraglider had not landed at the Chougan after taking off from Billing, a search operation was started with the help of a chopper. The rescue team came to know that Krammer was last spotted near Dehanasar areas of Chhota Bhangal.

Sharma said the operation was discontinued on Monday evening because of poor visibility. On Tuesday morning, a chopper was engaged for rescue operation and it landed at the place where Krammer was spotted.

He was rescued safely and shifted to a hospital for medical check-up.

In another paragliding mishap, a woman Canadian paraglider, Megan Elizabeth, was killed as her glider crashed near Himani Chamunda. Her body was retrieved from the deep trenches on Monday.