KARWAR: In a tragic incident, a captain belonging to
Indian Navy died after the powered paraglider, in which he was flying, plunged into the
Arabian Sea
at Karwar after alleged engine failure. The instructor of the Paramotor escaped unhurt and was rescued by the life guards and the fishermen.
The victim, hailing from Gauribidanur in Chikkaballapur district, has been identified as
Madhusudan Reddy, 55, working in
the Indian Navy at Karwar. His family members had come to Karwar on Friday morning from Bengaluru and they were all at the beach in the evening.
According to family members all of them had a ride in the Paramotor and in the end Madhusudan had gone for flying. When the glider was flying about a height of 100 feet, there was an alleged technical glitch that caused the engine to seize and plunge into the sea. The parapilot Vidyadhar Vaidya from Pune, also the owner of the glider, too fell into the sea but was immediately rescued by the fishermen and the life guards. Though Madhusudan was a good swimmer as he was in the seat harness, he got entangled with the glider ropes and fell into the sea along with the glider and was dragged below the waters. There was also a delay in locating them in the water.
Police said Reddy was alive when he was brought to the shore, but the ambulance of the district hospital did not arrive for half an hour, though the hospital was just half a km away from the place where the accident happened. Later the police shifted him to the hospital in their jeep, by which time he was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
The Paragliding activity was stopped for the last six months owing to corona. It was restarted on Friday and the Life guards too returned to the duty on Friday itself. The paragliding on the beach is done depending on the wind direction in the sea.
Though para motoring activity on
Karwar beach
was started three years ago this is the first such incident, it is said
Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.