Woman paraglider dies in Kullu as harness gives way

Abhinav Vashisht

Kullu, February 11

A tourist from Telangana was killed after her harness loosened midair during tandem paragliding and she fell at Dobhi in Manali subdivision in the district today.

‘Lapse’ on operator’s part

• Telangana tourist fell midair as the operator reportedly did not tie the harness properly
• Victim fell on concrete roof of a house, died on the spot; pilot was, however, able to land safely

Fatalities at dobhi

• Dec 24, 2023: Suraj Sanjay Shah (30) of Maharashtra killed in paragliding mishap
• June 15, 2022: Aditya (20) of Ambala & pilot Kishan (24) killed in paraglider crash
• Nov 18, 2019: Arvind (27) of Chennai killed in fall as paraglider harness breaks

The operator reportedly did not tie the harness properly and she fell as it loosened midair. The victim fell on the concrete roof of a house and died on the spot. The pilot was, however, able to land safely.

Kullu SP Karthikeyan Gokulachandran said the deceased had been identified as Navya (26) of Telangana. He said a case of negligence had been registered against the pilot under Sections 304A and 336 of the IPC. He said the victim was accompanied by her husband and her post-mortem had been conducted at the Kullu regional hospital.

Kullu District Tourism Development Officer (DTDO) Sunayna Sharma said the pilot was registered and his equipment was approved. She said the paragliding site was also approved and prima facie, the accident occurred due to harness failure. She said a magisterial inquiry had been ordered into the case and flying had been suspended at the Dobhi site till further orders.

Several fatal accidents have been witnessed in the past during paragliding and rafting. Most of these accidents have occurred due to lack of expertise and carelessness on the part of operators.

The Dobhi paragliding site has witnessed four fatalities while three persons have suffered injuries so far. In December 2022, then DC Ashutosh Garg had directed that paragliding sites should be inspected by the Paragliding and River Rafting District-Level Monitoring Committee every 15 days.

Some operators allegedly do not follow rules, endangering the lives of tourists.

There are about 500 paragliders in the district and eight approved sites.

The Tourism Department lacks adequate infrastructure for thorough vigilance in such a vast region. The department had decided in September last year that four marshals would be appointed at each of the eight approved paragliding sites in the district. The DTDO said the appointment of marshals was underway.

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