Greater Noida man falls to death while paragliding in Himachal, case against pilot

Detailed summary

A 26-year-old tourist from Greater Noida died after falling from a tandem paraglider barely six minutes after take-off at Himachal Pradesh's Bir Billing. Police suspect a safety…

A 26-year-old tourist from Greater Noida died after falling from a tandem paraglider barely six minutes after take-off at Bir Billing in Himachal Pradesh's Kangra district. Preliminary investigations have pointed to a possible failure of the paraglider's safety hook and lock, following which police registered a case of causing death by negligence against the pilot.

The victim, identified as Shubham Dobliyal, was holidaying in Himachal Pradesh with his sister and three other relatives when the accident took place on the evening of November 10. Shubham was flying with a local tandem pilot at Bir Billing, a popular paragliding destination, when he fell from the paraglider mid-air. He hard-landed in a dense forest near the designated landing site.

The pilot, Vinay Kumar, managed to land safely and subsequently alerted other paragliding pilots about the passenger's fall, following which a search operation was launched. Shubham's body was recovered from the forest late in the evening. He was taken to Baijnath Civil Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

According to Kangra Superintendent of Police (SP) Kulbhushan Verma, the Bir police station received information about the accident through the emergency helpline 112. A police team immediately reached the spot and initiated rescue and investigation proceedings.

Preliminary investigations have pointed to a possible failure of the paraglider's safety hook and lock, which may have caused the tourist to fall. The police have registered a case against Vinay, a resident of Kotli village in Kangra district.

An investigation is underway to establish the exact sequence of events and determine the circumstances that led to the safety mechanism's failure.

The victim's body was handed over to his family after a post-mortem examination.

The November 10 incident is the second paragliding-related fatality in Kangra district this year, according to SP Kulbhushan Verma.

Earlier, a Dutch national died while undertaking a solo paragliding…

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