US paraglider stranded at 4,200 ft in HP, rescued

Shimla, Mar 12 (PTI) A 64-year-old US national, who got stranded on a snow-covered mountain range in Himachal Pradesh while paragliding, was rescued by a helicopter team Tuesday after being marooned for nearly 40 hours at 4,200 feet, officials said. Max Kent McGowan was rescued from Uttarala mountain in Kangra district's Baijnath sub-division by a helicopter rescue team, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Sandeep Kumar said.

Kumar said a local youth, Rahul, was "para dropped from the helicopter and he secured McGowan to be airlifted". The youth stayed back as the helicopter could take one person at a time, he said. Rahul was airlifted by the helicopter on its second sortie, the DC said, adding that the US citizen will be taken for medical check-up to Baijnath. "Kudos to him (Rahul) and the other team members", who helped in rescuing the stranded paraglider, he said.

McGowan got stranded around 5 pm on Sunday while he was paragliding over the mountain range above Uttarala village. He was rescued Tuesday around 11:45 am, Kumar said. Officials said as per available information, McGowan took off from Bir Billing on Sunday and got stranded at a height of 4,200 meters on the snow covered Uttarala mountain of the Dhauladhar range.

He had to land due to a decrease in pressure on one side of his parachute. This sent him spinning down and he crashed on the mountain. However, because of a thick layer of fresh snow, he landed safely, they said. On Monday, McGowan communicated his situation through radio to the manager of a hotel where he was staying.

The manager, in turn, informed authorities about him, they said, adding that McGowan could only be rescued by deploying a helicopter. The helicopter, however, could not reach Baijnath on Monday due to bad weather, but on Tuesday it reached and rescued the US citizen.