Dharamshala, Oct 22 — A 27-year-old Canadian paraglider was found dead in the Dhauladhar mountain ranges of Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district on Monday, two days after she crash-landed during a solo flight from Bir-Billing, officials said.
The deceased, identified as Megan Elizabeth Roberts, had taken off from the Bir-Billing paragliding site on Saturday and was headed towards Triund. She was expected to land back at Bir but lost control mid-flight and went down in the mountains. Roberts had shared her GPS coordinates shortly after the crash, prompting an extensive rescue operation.
Her body was retrieved on Monday from a high-altitude location above Triund by rescuers who were airdropped at the site. “The team brought the body down to a lower altitude, from where it was airlifted,” Baijnath sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Sankalp Gautam said on Tuesday.
The post-mortem was conducted at Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, and the body was later handed over to her male friend for last rites. “The post-mortem report is awaited. The Canadian Embassy has been informed,” a senior police officer said. Roberts was cremated in Bir later that evening.
The operation was coordinated by the Billing Paragliding Association (BPA) with assistance from the local administration. A private helicopter conducted four sorties on Sunday, but poor weather hampered access to the crash site. Rahul Singh, in-charge of the mountain para-rescue team, said the rescue began at 9:30 am Sunday. “I was airdropped about 70 metres below the site near Talang Pass. Her body was cold and unresponsive,” he said.
Singh and two other rescuers stayed overnight in the mountains and brought the body down using ropes before it was airlifted to Kangra airport.
BPA founding member Suresh Thakur said Roberts had been visiting Bir-Billing regularly for several years. “She was a well-trained solo paraglider,” Thakur said, adding that the cremation was performed with Hindu rituals after her family’s consent.
In a separate incident, Austrian paraglider Jacob Krammer was rescued from the Dhauladhar ranges on Tuesday, a day after he crash-landed near Dehnasar Lake. Krammer, who had also taken off from Billing, escaped unhurt.
“We received information on Monday evening and carried out a heli-rescue on Tuesday morning after he shared his GPS coordinates,” SDM Gautam said. Thakur confirmed that Krammer was lifted from above Dehnasar Lake.
Bir-Billing, known as the paragliding capital of India, attracts thousands of enthusiasts annually and ranks among the top global sites for the sport. However, recent accidents have raised concerns over flight safety. In November 2024, a Polish pilot was rescued after being stranded for three days in the Dhauladhar range, and a month earlier, a Belgian paraglider had died following a mid-air collision.
