A paraglider fell from a height of 30 feet in Himachal Pradesh’s Bir Billing at 5 pm on Tuesday, killing the pilot and the tourist. One pilot was injured, who was referred to Tanda Medical College Hospital, Kangra. DSP Baijnath BD Bhatia said that after registering a case, the cause of the accident is being investigated and paraglider and other items have been seized. The deceased include pilot Rakesh Kumar (29) from Beed village in Baijnath and tourist Akash Agarwal (31) son Ganesh Agarwal, RO 7075 Tower-5 Block E-2 GH 7 Crossing Republic Vijay Nagar, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. The cause of the accident is expected to be known after examining the selfie camera images.
According to the police, tourist Akash Agarwal was going to take a tandem flight with pilot Vikas Kapoor. Another pilot, Rakesh Kumar, was assisting the two in their take off. While taking off, the pilot Rakesh is believed to have got stuck in the paraglider with the seat of the pilot Vikas on a hook, called a harness. Both the pilots got stuck and the paraglider came down uncontrollably. SDM Salim Azam said that the relatives of tourist Akash Agarwal have been informed and the matter is being investigated. The post-mortem of both the bodies will be done on Wednesday.
There is an atmosphere of fear among the people due to the accidents happening during paragliding. In the last one year, half a dozen people have died in five accidents in Kangra district itself. This is the first time a pilot has died in all these accidents. Following the tragic death of a youth from Nagrota after taking off from Billing Valley a few months ago, the 12-year-old son of a Bengaluru couple was killed in a speeding vehicle accident while on their way to Billing.