Another Russian paragliding pilot died during a paragliding incident on Tuesday at Pokhara.
42 year deceased pilot has been identified as Russian citizen Dmitri Stepanishin who lost his life after taking a solo paragliding flight from the Sarangkot Hill in Pokhara. He was rushed to metro city hospital after the incident however he was pronounced dead immediately.
This is the 3rd incident in Pokhara’s sky within this week and it has been assumed that the incident happened after strong wind blew around the area causing pilot to lose control over glider right after taking off.
A Romanian para-glider died after plunging into Fewa Lake on Sunday while on Monday a Portuguese paragliding pilot had met an accident with injuries after he came into contact with the high voltage electric transmission line.
Civil Aviation Authority, Pokhara has banned para-gliders for solo flights after the series of incident occurred lately. CAA Pokhara issued notice to ban solo flights effective immediately after the recent incident.
Similarly, Pokhara municipality has also stated to halt the adventurous sport effective from Wednesday stating the paragliding companies are yet to pay the taxes.
The municipality stated that most companies have not paid the tax as well as most of the company are not registered in the municipality. Only 1 out of 56 company is registered till date added municipality.
Similarly, various tourism entrepreneurs of Pokhara stated that illegal operation of companies and use of routes which are not permitted have also caused various problems lately. Paragliding pilots have to pay 5650 Nepalese rupees for 15 days permit for paragliding in Pokhara and though some take permits other don’t take permit and operate haphazardly causing various incidents lately.
