Nepal

Paraglide piloting learner falls to death in Phewa Lake

Paraglide piloting learner falls to death in Phewa Lake

By Bharat Koirala/Rup Narayan Dhakal

File- Participants of the 15th paragliding competition flying over the sky in Pokhara on Sundayu201a March 02u201a 2014. Photo: THT/File

POKHARA: A person who was paragliding fell to his death in Phewa Lake here in Pokhara on Saturday. The deceased was 26-year-old Sunil Bhattarai from Kathmandu Metropolitan City-8, according to the Kaski District Police Office. He was learning solo piloting for last few days, according to police. Bhattarai had not yet received the paragliding licence from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. He was currently living in Malepatan of Pokhara. Bhattarai had fallen down into the Phewa Lake along with his paraglider at around 2 pm this afternoon. A rescue team had taken him out of the water alive and rushed to the local Charak Memorial Hospital. But, he breathed his last during treatment at the Manipal Teaching Hospital, DPO Chief SP Hari Bahadur Pal said. So far, as many as nine persons have died in paragliding accidents in Pokhara's 20-year long paragliding history. Bhattarai, however, was the first Nepali to be killed in these accidents.