Paraglider killed during training in Himachal's Bir Billing; fifth such death since April 2019

A 24-year-old paraglider was killed during training in Himachal Pradesh's Bir Billing area, fifth such death in the state since April last year.

A resident of Barot, Akshay died during training on Sunday, police said.

Akshay had taken a paragliding flight from Bir Billing in Kangra district with another pilot, Shyam Lal, they added.

They were learning how to take a tandem flight but Akshay suddenly fell in a forest area, police said.

Shyam Lal immediately landed and informed others about the accident.

When they reached the spot, Akshay was dead.

Police have registered a case and the matter is being investigated.

Earlier, four people--three tourists and a pilot--were killed and two injured in three separate accidents in Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district.

A Kerala tourist, Altho Bachu, and pilot Naresh Kumar died in a paragliding crash near Dobhi village in Naggar area of Kullu on April 7 last year.

Similarly, a tourist from Punjab's Mohali district, Amandeep Singh (23), died and pilot Ranjir Singh injured in the Solang valley of Kullu on May 18.

Arvind B (27) from Chennai was killed and pilot Haru Ram injured in another paragliding accident at Dobhi near Manali in Kullu on November 18.

Two months after Amandeep's death, his father Inderbir Sobti had met Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur at his official residence in Shimla on July 18 and urged him to improve safety facilities at all adventure sport locations to avoid mishaps.

Talking to PTI after meeting the CM, Sobti had rued the absence of "proper emergency medical attention" in his son's final moments.

Sobti told Thakur that all adventure tourism operators must mandatorily provide emergency health and trauma care services.