NRI dies after he crashes while paragliding in Mandi

Tribune News Service
Dharmsala, October 24

An NRI from Australia, Sanjay Kumar Ramdas Devarkonda, died on Wednesday evening after a crash landing in Jogindergar area of Mandi district.

As per the police report registered in Jogindernagar police station, they received information at about 6 pm that a paraglider had crashed in the area. A search party was sent.

After a search of about six hours, the paraglider was found in hills around Duggli. He had died due to the crash.

The police had shifted the body of the deceased to Tanda medical college for post-mortem.

Devarkonda was resident of New South Wales area in Australia and was also an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card holder.

This is the second death of a paraglider in the last one week in Bir Billing that was scheduled to host India Open Paragliding World Cup 2018 from October 27 to November 3.

The accident has caused doubts about arrangements for paragliding world cup.

Till date 170 pilots from 20 countries have registered for paragliding world cup to start from October 27 out of which 24 are female pilots.

On October 23, a Singaporean paraglider, Kok Chang (53), had died in an accident while paragliding in Bir Billing area.

Kok Chang was a free flyer had gone missing last Monday. His body was spotted lying in Big Area in hills of Utrala region in Baijnath area.

When the rescue team reached, he had already perished. The sources here said that the Singaporean paraglider had come here to participate in paragliding world cup.

A Spanish pilot, Jos Lewis, had crashed in the hills but was rescued. Two other pilots, including a Russian, and Latavian had also sustained injuries in crashes while paragliding.

Following the spate of accidents involving free flying paragliders in Bir Billing, Deputy Commissioner Kangra Sandeep Kumar has banned free flying in Bir Billing till further orders.

In an order issued today evening, the deputy commissioner has directed SDM Baijnath not to allow free flying in Bir Billing till he was satisfied regarding the security of free fliers.

Free flying means that any pilot with paragliding equipment can come and fly from Billing site. Besides, trained pilots also carry out tandem flights for tourists coming to the area.