19 hours in freezing Himalayas: Aussie paraglider survives night at 4,000m near Manali; rescued after daring trek | Shimla News
KULLU: An Australian paraglider, who crash-landed in the mountains near Manali in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh at an altitude of around 4,000 metres on Monday, was rescued after more than 19 hours.The paraglider, Andy Ryan (51), took off from Rani Sui Lake, located at an altitude of around 3,800 metres near Manali on Monday afternoon around 2pm, but was forced to crash-land soon after in a nearby mountain, locally known as Kwari Dhar.While Andy sent out an SOS message, a Russian solo pilot, who was also flying in the same area and witnessed the crash, clicked a picture of the spot and requested help. Andy, who suffered injuries while landing, was stranded on a vertical rocky slope below a ridge at an altitude of around 4,000 metres with no way to either move up or down. Andy spent the night in the open, with temperatures plunging well below zero in the evening hours.According to Suresh Thakur, the founder director of Billing Paragliding Association (BPA), he received the information about the crash around 4pm. “We immediately requested our partners in Manali to start a search-and-rescue operation. We also made arrangements for a helicopter. But by then, it was already night, making it difficult to conduct a search with a chopper,” Thakur told TOI.A team from the Adventure Tour Operators’ Association of Manali then launched an search-and-rescue operation around 8.30pm on Monday evening. Led by Ramesh Jogi, the team trekked at night and reached below the mountain where Andy crash-landed around 2.30am. An Austrian paraglider, Ron Fischer, also accompanied the ground rescue team.“Around 6 am, we began climbing up and reached the spot where Andy was when a heli-rescue team with our members on board also arrived. Andy was evacuated around 9.30am,” said Jogi.Andy was flown to Manali and admitted to the Mission Hospital, where his condition is stable.The ongoing winter flying season in neighbouring Kangra district’s Bir Billing, where hundreds of solo paragliders from across the world have gathered, has witnessed a number of paragliding accidents and a death. Last week, Canadian pilot Megan Elizabeth (27) died in a paragliding accident in the Dhauladhar mountain. Two foreign pilots – Jakob Krammer (35) of Austria and Nikita Vasiltsov (38) of Russia – were rescued after they went missing after taking off from Billing. In 2023 and 2024, five solo pilots died and four were rescued.According to Ajay Kumar Sharma, an international paragliding pilot and the chief instructor at Manali-based Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports, foreign solo pilots meet with accidents when they underestimate the Himalayas and push their limits. “Most foreign pilots who gather in Bir-Billing every year don’t really understand the unique Himalayan conditions. They have little or no knowledge of the weather, wind, temperature, or even the topography. They take the mountains here lightly and at the same time try to push their limits and take unnecessary risks while flying. The result is all these unfortunate crashes and fatalities we witness each year,” said Sharma.Russian goes missing in billingA Russian paraglider, who took off from Kangra district’s Billing on Tuesday, also went missing near the Jalsu mountain pass at an altitude of around 3,800 metres. Billing Paragliding Association (BPA) director Suresh Thakur told TOI that communication had been established with the pilot, identified as Pavel Sukhotskiy (39). “The pilot has suffered minor injuries, and he is safe. We have been able to establish radio communication with Pavel. A helicopter sortie will be carried out on Wednesday to evacuate the stranded pilot,” said Thakur.
