Canadian paraglider pilot stranded in Triund hills

A Canadian paraglider pilot Megan Elizabeth is stranded for the past 24 hours after her paraglider crash landed in higher hills of Dhauladhar ranges in Talan Jot near north of Himani Chamunda temple yesterday. The Baijnath administration today started a rescue operation with the help of climbers and volunteers of Bir Billing Paragliding Association (BPA) though without success today.

Megan Elizabeth, a solo flier, had taken off from Billing on Saturday. She had to land at Chogan after two hours, but did not return. She lost his route and was trapped in the high mountains near Talan Jot, north of Himani Chamunda temple at the height of 14,000 feet above the sea level and probably spent the night in the freezing temperatures. She had a radio set and mobile phone with her and informed members of Bir Billing Paragliding Association, who immediately launched a rescue operation. Later, his family arranged a helicopter from which also started a search operation.

SDM Baijnath Sankalap Gautam told reporters at Baijnath that the pilot had landed in high hills between Himani Chamunda temple and Triund. After tracing her location with the help of Google maps, a rescue operation was launched. She had enough eatables, medicines and warm jackets with her.

A chopper dropped the rescue team in the high hills but the team could not evacuate her from deep trenches. A senior officer of the state government, while talking to The Tribune, said a chopper would make efforts to bring out the paraglider pilot from the trenches tomorrow. More climbers would be added to the rescue team. The administration is also taking the advice of experts from the Himalayan Institute of Mountaineering, Manali.

State agencies are under a cloud following rising paragliding mishaps at Bir-Billing. In the past five years, 26 gliders have crashed at different places in Kangra and the adjoining Mandi district, killing 12 pilots, including foreigners and injuring several persons.

The High Court has also taken cognizance of a news item that had appeared in these columns recently pertaining to the death of Navy Lt Commander Viven Dev of Kerala after his glider crashed in a forest near Bir-Billing. The court has taken a serious note of rising paragliding mishaps.

The SDM said the administration was in touch with the paraglider pilot and efforts were on to rescue her.