A 47-year-old Bulgarian paraglider died after his solo flight crashed near Rising Star Peak in the Khaniyara area of Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh's Kangra district, police said. A 63-year-old British pilot who had also taken off from Bir Billing was found alive after an overnight search in the Dhauladhar mountains.
Source: ANI via Dev Discourse
Police identified the deceased as Maksim Valentinovich Gavrilichenko, a Bulgarian national who had arrived in India on a tourist visa on October 7. The rescued pilot was identified as Stephen Antony Purdie, a 63-year-old British citizen. Both men had taken off separately on solo flights from the Bir Billing paragliding site on Sunday, October 25.
Source: ANI via Dev Discourse
According to police, information about the crash was received between 3 pm and 3:30 pm on Sunday, after the pilots ran into strong winds near Rising Star Peak. A joint search and rescue operation by local police, the district administration, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the Him Sanchar Rescue Team set out for the remote site at around 9 pm on Sunday and concluded at about 10 am on Monday, October 26.
Source: ANI via Dev Discourse
Gavrilichenko was found dead at the site, while Purdie was located and brought to safety. The Bulgarian pilot's body was taken to the Zonal Hospital in Dharamshala for a post-mortem examination. Kangra Superintendent of Police Kulbhushan Verma confirmed the incident to ANI and said the circumstances of the crash were still being ascertained.
Source: ANI via Dev Discourse
Following the fatal crash, the Kangra administration has suspended all solo paragliding flights at Bir Billing until October 28 as a precaution. Baijnath Sub-Divisional Magistrate Sankalp Gautam announced the restriction, citing volatile weather and fluctuating air pressure in the Dhauladhar range. Tandem flights are permitted to continue under the oversight of paragliding marshals, according to reports.
Source: Mirror Now / Times of India
Preliminary reports suggest strong winds may have contributed to the crash, but police said the exact cause has not yet been established and an investigation is under way. Bir Billing is one of the world's best-known paragliding sites and draws pilots from India and abroad every season.
Source: Saptashwa TV