PANAJI: A woman tourist from Maharashtra and a paraglider operator from Nepal lost their lives after the rope snapped while they were paragliding at Keri plateau on Saturday evening. Goa police booked the owner of the paragliding company for alleged culpable homicide.
The incident took place between 4.30pm and 5pm, police said. Police identified the deceased as 27-year-old Pune resident Shivani Dabale and 26-year-old operator Suman Nepali.
Police said that Dabale came to Goa with a friend. Police said that the paraglider took off from Keri plateau along with the tourist and was flying at a low altitude.
Police said that one of the ropes of the paraglider snapped, and they hit different rocks. The deceased suffered fractures and later succumbed to injuries.
Police said an ambulance was immediately called, and both were shifted to the Goa Medical College (GMC), where they were declared brought dead. The bodies have been preserved in the morgue and the autopsies will be conducted on Sunday.
Mandrem MLA Jit Arolkar said that he has written to the tourism department to stop paragliding activities at Keri plateau as it is a dangerous area. He said that even the Keri panchayat had taken a resolution to stop paragliding activities. Arolkar said that there are four paragliding operators on the plateau.
‘Offence registered against owner of company’
An offence has been registered at Mandrem police station against Shekhar Raizada, owner of Hike ‘n’ Fly Company, who, without obtaining permission from the appropriate authority, knowingly allowed his paraglider pilot to conduct the paragliding activities with the tourist,” superintendent of police (SP) Tikam Singh Verma said.
Verma said that with the knowledge that his act could endanger human life and in order to earn, Raizada intentionally permitted Dabale and Nepali, without a valid licence, to carry out the paragliding from the height, resulting in the their deaths.
Mandrem police registered the case under Section 105 BNS (culpable homicide that is not considered murder), Verma said.