US paraglider stranded at 4\,200 ft in HP\, rescued

US paraglider stranded at 4,200 ft in HP, rescued

Press Trust of India  |  Shimla 

A 64-year-old US national, who got stranded on a snow-covered mountain range in while paragliding, was rescued by a helicopter team Tuesday after being for nearly 40 hours at 4,200 feet, officials said.

Kumar said a local youth, Rahul, was "para dropped from the helicopter and he secured McGowan to be airlifted". The youth stayed back as the helicopter could take one person at a time, he said.

was airlifted by the helicopter on its second sortie, the DC said, adding that the US citizen will be taken for medical check-up to Baijnath.

"Kudos to him (Rahul) and the other team members", who helped in rescue the stranded paraglider, he said.

McGowan got stranded around 5 pm on Sunday while he was over the mountain range above Uttarala village. He was rescued Tuesday around 11:45 am, Kumar said.

Officials said as per available information, McGowan took off from Bir Billing on Sunday and got stranded at a height of 4,200 meters on the snow covered of the Dhauladhar range.

He had to land due to a decrease in pressure on one side of his parachute. This sent him spinning down and he crashed on the mountain. However, because of a thick layer of fresh snow, he landed safely, they said.

On Monday, McGowan communicated his situation through radio to the of a hotel where he was staying.

The manager, in turn, informed authorities about him, they said, adding that McGowan could only be rescued by deploying a helicopter.

The helicopter, however, could not been able to reach Baijnath on Monday due to bad weather, but on Tuesday it reached and rescued the US citizen.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Tue, March 12 2019. 13:55 IST