KATHMANDU, Jan 19: A 27-year-old woman tourist from Pune, Maharashtra, and a 26-year-old pilot died in a paragliding mishap at North Goa’s Querim on Saturday.
According to the India media reports, police identified the tourist as Shivani Dabale, a resident of Pune, while the paragliding pilot has been identified as Suman Nepali, a native of Nepal. According to the police, the incident took place between 4:30 pm and 5 pm at Querim plateau.
According to a report by PTI, the incident occurred at Keri Village on Saturday evening.
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A police officer, requesting anonymity, said: “The incident took place when the victim Shivani was taking a tandem flight with Suman as the pilot. One of the cables is suspected to have snapped mid-flight, due to which they lost balance and collided with some rocks and crashed from a height.”
Police said both suffered serious injuries and were rushed to a hospital, where they were declared dead. “We have informed the families of the deceased. A probe has been initiated. Inquest proceedings are ongoing,” the police officer added.
According to a report by The Times of India, Dabale had come to Goa with a friend. Police said that the paraglider took off from Keri plateau along with the tourist and was flying at a low altitude,
Police said that one of the ropes of the paraglider snapped, and they hit different rocks. The deceased suffered fractures and later succumbed to injuries.
Police added an ambulance was immediately called and both were taken to Goa Medical College where they were declared brought dead. The bodies have been preserved in the morgue and the autopsy will be conducted on Sunday.
Police have booked the owner of the adventure sports company ‘Hike n Fly’, which was conducting the paragliding, under section 105 of BNS, 2023 (culpable homicide, not amounting to murder).
In a statement, police said the accused, Shekhar Raizada, owner of an adventure sports company, “without obtaining permission from the appropriate authority knowingly allowed his paraglider pilot to conduct the paragliding activities with the tourist, with the knowledge that his act will endanger life…the accused intentionally permitted tourist…and paragliding pilot…without valid license to carry out paragliding from a height resulting in death”.
