Canadian paraglider Megan Elizabeth, who had gone missing after taking a flight from Bir-Billing paragliding site in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh on Saturday, was found dead on Monday.
However, another Austrian paraglider, Jacob, was rescued from the high mountains of the Dhauladhar range by the rescue teams.
Both paragliders had flown separately from the international Bir-Billing paragliding site and were supposed to land at Chaugan landing site but flew towards the Dhauladhar mountain range, lost route and later crashed near Himani Chamunda temple.
President of Billing Paragliding Association, Anurag Sharma said , “Meghan Elizabeth was an experienced solo flier, she had taken off from Billing and was expected to land at Chaugan, but lost en route and after getting the information the Paragliding Association helped the Baijnath administration to locate the paragliders with the help of paragliding teams,”
“Rahul Singh, a member of the rescue team, was the first to be air-dropped into the area on Sunday evening. He reached the crash site later that night and found the paraglider unresponsive. Elizabeth had likely died due to exposure to extreme cold and injuries sustained during the landing on rocky terrain,” said an official of local administration. .
Though the state government has issued strict guidelines for making the paragliding safe in the state, but many paragliders have lost their lives during the past few years.
