'NSC had not taken permission to organise tournament'
POKHARA, OCTOBER 16
The National Sports Council has cancelled the paragliding event of the Ninth National Games after a Tribhuvan Army Club glider died in an accident today.
Nishim Thapa of Tribhuvan Army Club passed away after he fell from around 100 metres while taking part in the Cross Country event from Sarangkot.
His body has been taken to Gandaki Zonal Hospital for post-mortem.
The 26-year-old glider from Pokhara was flying on Blue Sky Company's paraglider and he fell on the ground from 100 metres around a couple of minutes after taking off from Sarangkot hill.
"The take-off time was set between 11:30 to 12:00 noon.
Unfortunately, Thapa collapsed after two-three minutes of flying due to unfavourable wind," said paragliding coach Yogesh Bhattarai.
"We saw his paraglider shrink in the air and go on auto-rotating mode before falling on the ground directly. He tried to recover in the air but the distance was too short and he failed to control the paraglider," he added.
According to Bhattarai, who was present at the take-off zone when the incident took place, Thapa was taken to nearby Metro City Hospital within 10 minutes where he was declared dead upon arrival.
"For now, the paragliding discipline has been postponed after verbal instructions from the organisers," he added.
According to General Secretary of Nepal Hang-gliding Association Shailendra Raut, the tournament was postponed indefinitely after instructions were received from the National Sports Council.
Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal decided to stop paragliding in the area.
Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Jeevan Ram Shrestha, who is also the President of Nepal Olympic Committee, expressed disbelief at the incident and said that the sports discipline had been stopped for obvious security reasons.
"I came to know that the National Sports Council had not taken permission for paragliding for the Ninth National Games. As it happens to be a sensitive issue related to aviation, I have instructed CAAN authorities to stop the event until the next decision," added Shrestha.
CAAN Spokesperson Jagannath Niraula said paragliding was stopped in the whole country for now.
"We have decided to close down paragliding in the whole country for now. The NSC has not taken permission to organise paragliding tournament and we will investigate the matter," said Niraula.
A version of this article appears in the print on October 17, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
