A tourist from Tamil Nadu had a terrifying experience during an adventure tourism activity at Varkala beach on Tuesday afternoon. The woman tourist and her paragliding instructor became entangled on a high-mast lamp pole more than 50 metres tall and were left hanging from it for nearly two hours before being rescued.
The rescue plan was to lower the columns of the high mast to bring them to safety, as the fire department did not have a ladder tall enough to reach them. Mattresses and nets were placed at the bottom of the pole as a precautionary measure. Eventually, the pole was lowered, and both the 28-year-old woman and her paragliding instructor were rescued.
The two were admitted to Taluk Hospital in Varkala and are reportedly safe. The mishap occurred when the paragliders took off from a helipad at Varkala and were blown towards the high mast lamp pole due to a sudden change in wind direction. The glider got entangled in the pillar, and both gliders were trapped, hanging from the top of it.
Police said that the paragliding instructor was from Varkala, and the woman was a tourist from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The public alerted the police and fire service personnel when they saw the gliders hanging from the pillar.
Last year, at least four deaths were reported due to paragliding accidents. Among them were a paraglider pilot and his passenger who died when it crashed to the ground shortly after taking off in Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu. The accident occurred in June. Both the victims of the accident were in their twenties.
Another accident killed two in the Kangra district in March last year.