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KULLU: A 27-year-old Canadian paraglider died aft crash-landing into the Dhauladhar mountains successful Himachal Pradesh past week, portion 2 overseas pilots were rescued from the precocious reaches of Kangra and Kullu districts connected Monday.
In keeping with her wishes, Megan Elizabeth from Canada was cremated successful Bir arsenic per Hindu rituals connected Tuesday.All 3 paragliders had taken disconnected from the 8000-ft Bir-Billing tract adjacent Dharamshala, which draws adventure-seekers from crossed the world. Elizabeth took disconnected astatine 9.45am Saturday (Oct 18), but was forced to crash-land beneath a rocky cliff successful the Dhauladhar mountains, astir 40km away, astatine an altitude of 4,000m (13,120ft).A hunt and rescue cognition was launched arsenic soon arsenic Kangra medication was informed of the accident. A squad from Billing Paragliding Association (BPA) carried retired chopper sorties successful the Dhauladhar mountains and dropped its leader, Rahul Singh, adjacent the tract wherever Elizabeth had crash-landed connected Saturday evening, arsenic determination was nary abstraction for landing a chopper. Singh was to find Elizabeth and assistance her past until a afloat rescue squad arrived, but helium couldn’t find her and spent the nighttime connected a cliffside.
On Sunday morning, 4 much BPA squad members were air-dropped, and they managed to find her body.“Elizabeth was forced to crash-land either owed to a abrupt upwind alteration oregon due to the fact that of a occupation with her glider. She utilized the reserve glider portion crash-landing, but I conjecture she was flying astatine a debased altitude and deed the rocks portion landing. She sustained superior caput injuries,” said BPA founder-director Suresh Thakur.BPA members carried Elizabeth’s assemblage down for implicit 1,000m (nearly 3,300ft) until a chopper could airlift it to Kangra, wherever an autopsy was conducted. The 2 paragliders rescued Monday were Russian Nikita Vasiltsov and Austrian Jakob Krammer. Nikita (38) had crash-landed adjacent Patalsu highest successful Pir Panjal scope adjacent Manali, astir 70km from wherever helium took off, astatine an altitude of astir 4,000m.Hundreds of ‘free flyers’ (solo pilots) from astir the satellite stitchery successful Bir-Billing successful Oct each year, which is considered the champion clip for cross-country flights. However, Bir-Billing has seen predominant paragliding accidents and fatalities.In the past decade, implicit a twelve solo paragliders — mostly overseas nationals — person died aft taking disconnected from Bir-Billing, six of them successful the past 3 years.
