Kerala adventure tourism turns nightmare as glider gets entangled, 3 held

Adventure tourism at Varkala beach turned a harrowing experience for a tourist from Tamil Nadu on Tuesday afternoon after she and her paragliding instructor got entangled on a more than 50-metre tall high-mast lamp pole and were left hanging from it for nearly two hours before being rescued. Three people were arrested on Wednesday in connection with the accident.

The arrested persons include a paragliding instructor and action was taken based on the complaint of the 28-year-old tourist hailing from Coimbatore in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, police said.

"We have registered an FIR against the trainer and two staff of the paragliding club based on a complaint from the victim. The club has a license to operate but flying is banned in the area where the accident occurred. They knew about the ban in this area but violated it," an officer of Varkala police station, said. As the Fire department did not have a ladder which was tall enough, the two were rescued after lowering the pole.

According to local sources, the paraglider took off from the cliff near the beach at around 3:30 pm with the pilot and a woman tourist from Tamil Nadu. Soon after take-off, it got stuck on the high mast light on the beach.

Also Read | Two killed after being hit by ambulance in Srinagar

As the Fire department did not have a ladder which was not tall enough, the rescue plan was to lower the columns of the high mast to bring them to safety and as a precautionary measure mattresses and nets were placed at the bottom of the pole, police said.

According to police, the woman knew about the danger of flying into that area and had tried everything to stop the trainer from flying into Papanasam beach. "We have registered an FIR against the trainer and two staff of the paragliding club based on a complaint from the victim."

Thereafter, the pole was lowered and the 28-year old woman and the paragliding instructor were rescued, police said. Both of them have been admitted to the Taluk Hospital in Varkala and are safe, police said. The mishap occurred when the paragliders, who took off from a helipad at Varkala, were blown towards the high mast lamp pole due to a sudden change in wind direction, police said.

The glider got entangled in the pillar and both gliders were trapped hanging from the top of it. The public alerted the police and fire service personnel when they saw the gliders hanging from the pillar. Police said the paragliding instructor belonged to Varkala and the woman was a tourist from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

(With PTI inputs)