Palampur: 10 days on, body of Polish paraglider pilot recovered from Triund

Palampur, November 2

Kangra district administration with the help of rescue teams comprising NDRF, Indian Air Force and experts of Himalayan Institute of Mountaineering, Manali, finally succeeded in retrieving the body of missing Polish paraglider pilot Andrzej Kulawik from high mountains in Dhauladhar hills after 10 days. Andrzej had taken off from Billing but his paraglider crashed in Dhauladhar hills near Triund.

Addressing media persons, Nipun Jindal, Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, said it was one of the longest and toughest rescue operations in the history of paragliding mishaps in Dhauladhar hills. Because of difficult topography the rescue operation continued for one week. IAF made several attempts to retrieve the body but did not succeed. The area, where the glider had crashed, was narrow and covered with high hills from all sides. It had no place for a chopper either to land or drop the rescue workers. Besides, it was also very risky for the rescue teams to land at that site to lift the body from a deep trench. However, after repeated attempts the rescue teams managed to lift the body from the snow-covered trench this afternoon.

The Deputy Commissioner appreciated the efforts of rescue teams for successful completion of the rescue operation putting lives in risk.

The body of the pilot along with his paraglider was spotted by a chopper at the height of 12,000 feet above the sea level near Triund in Dhauladhar hills last week. Since then the Kangra administration had been making efforts to retrieve the body which, however, yielded no results.

Kulawik had taken off from Billing last week but his glider crashed at the height of 12,000 feet above the sea level because of poor thermals.

Unfortunately, mishaps keep happening in the area as there is nobody to educate the foreign pilots in the tourism department about the difficult topography of Dhauladhar hills and sudden changes in weather here. Besides, most of the high altitude areas of Dhauladhar ranges have no Internet access. Many times radio systems carried by the pilot stop functioning. Bir Billing Paragliding Association, the organizer of the event, has no proper ground rescue teams supported by a chopper. The BPA or tourism department calls a chopper from Uttarakhand in the event of an emergency which takes seven to eight hours to reach the crash sites.