Shimla: Paragliding is an adventurous sport for some, while for others it’s an exciting pastime.
It can be a dangerous and fatal activity too, as a couple of foreigners paid the ultimate price.
A day after the death of a Belgian paraglider, another paraglider from Czech Republic was killed in Himachal Pradesh’s Manali on Wednesday after crashing into the mountainside, PTI reported.
Identified as Dita Misurcova, the 43-year-old lost control over the glider due to strong winds and crashed into the mountains near Marhi in Manali, officials said after a preliminary inquiry.
Misurcova was not a novice, and had been paragliding for the last six years. She was rushed to a hospital in Manali, where she passed away.
The back-to-back twin tragedies cast a pall of gloom as they occurred ahead of the Paragliding World Cup 2024, which will be held in Kangra district’s Bir-Billing — considered to be a paragliding paradise — from November 2 to 9. As many as 130 paragliders from 50 countries will paticipate.
A day earlier, Belgian Feyaret lost his life after colliding with a Polish paraglider in Bir-Billing.
The duo had taken off separately and collided mid-air, leading to the fatality of Feyaret, a free-flying paraglider in his mid-sixties. The Polish paraglider sustained injuries.
Vinay Dhiman, Kangra’s Deputy Director of Tourism told PTI that 10 paragliders were flying simultaneously when two of them collided mid-air leading to the death of Feyaret, whose parachute did not open after the crash.
In October 2023, three paragliders – from Russia, Poland and India — were killed in the span of a week.
According to experts, chances of accident increase when free fliers venture into high-risk zones or inner valleys with little knowledge of the topography and local wind conditions.
“We are in the process of documenting the thermals in the Bir-Billing area with the help of experts to reduce the probability of accidents while flying,” said an official.
Avinash Negi, Director of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports (ABVIMAS) in Manali, said that a proposal to instal special towers in high mountains to pinpoint the crash sites in case of accidents is being worked out.
