Tourist dies in paragliding crash near Dharamsala

A tourist who sustained serious injuries after his paraglider crashed near Kangra district’s Dharamsala died in hospital on Monday, police said.

The deceased has been identified as Satish (27) from Gujarat. He took off from Indru Nag paragliding site, located in the suburbs of the city, on Sunday in a tandem flight with paraglider pilot Suraj, but their paraglider crashed after a short distance. A video of the crash is circulating on the internet.

Satish suffered serious injuries in this accident and was brought to Zonal Hospital Dharamsala and later referred to Tanda Medical College, where he died on Monday, police said. Suraj is still under treatment.

The family members of the deceased have been informed about the incident, and the body will be handed over to them after post-mortem, said Kangra Additional Superintendent of Police (SP) Hitesh Lakhanpal.

The local station house officer (SHO) has been directed to investigate the case, with the tourism department officials also being asked to look into the matter, he added.

Earlier, in January this year, a woman tourist, also from Gujarat, identified as Bhavsar Khushi, died as she fell while taking off on a tandem flight. Two more accidents happened in that month, resulting in as many fatalities.

In total, over 12 people have died while paragliding in Himachal Pradesh during the last 30 months. However, a majority of deaths were attributed to free fliers who venture into high-risk zones or inner valleys with little knowledge of topography and local wind conditions.