Singapore paraglider pilot found dead in HP

DHARAMSHALA: A Singaporean paragliding pilot was found dead in the Dhauladhar mountains overlooking Palampur valley in Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday.

The deceased, identified as 53-year-old Kok Choonk Na, was missing since Monday.

“The Singaporean was registered as a free flyer and went missing after taking off from BirBilling on Monday,” said Baijnath sub-divisional magistrate Vikas Shukla. He probably lost control due to strong winds and crash landed on the other side of the mountains.

His body was spotted by a rescue team sent to trace another missing pilot. Meanwhile, a Spanish paraglider who was missing since Sunday was spotted stranded on a hill between Thamsar Pass and Bara-Bhangal village by the airborne rescue team. “The rescue team had established contact with him and he said to have suffered injury on his feet while crash landing. However, the team was unable to establish a contact with him on Tuesday and search is on to trace him,” the SDM, who is leading the ground rescue team.

He said the rescue could not carried out due to thunderstorms in the mountains and will resume tomorrow. “A paramotor had been sent to drop food and water to the trapped paraglider,” he said. The 40-year-old paraglider Jos Lewis had taken off from Bir Billing with two other paragliders-a Russian and a Latvian. The trio was to loose control due to strong winds. While the spanish paraglider had swept across Thamsar Pass, the other two had crash landed in Jhatingari and Barot in Mandi district and were rescued by locals. They are currently under treatment.

Bir-Billing valley is hosting Paragliding Pre-World Cup slated for October 27 to November 3. Around 160 pilots have registered for the competition including foreigners. Besides, a large number of foreign free flyers have also come to the valley for adventure sport.

THE 40YEAROLD

PARAGLIDER JOS LEWIS HAD TAKEN OFF FROM BIR BILLING WITH TWO OTHER PARAGLIDERSA RUSSIAN AND A LATVIAN