Body of paraglider who went missing amid inclement weather in Chitral found

In Upper Chitral, the body of 55-year-old paraglider Asif Mehmood, who went missing after a sudden weather change, was discovered in the Oveer Valley on Friday afternoon. A search mission had been conducted in the high-altitude Barum hills following Mehmood's disappearance. Mehmood, a resident of Wah Cantt, had taken off from Zaini Pass in a group of six people on Thursday afternoon.

The weather deteriorated about an hour into the flight, and Mehmood continued to fly towards Chitral city despite the worsening conditions. The paragliding association's president, Zahiruddin Baber, mentioned that the body was taken to the hospital in Booni for a postmortem examination before being returned to his family in Lower Chitral.

Mehmood had sustained serious injuries, including damage to his backbone and head, after crashing into a hillock. The association lost contact with Mehmood for approximately one-and-a-half hours after take-off, and his signal went offline. The search operation was halted overnight due to darkness and poor visibility but was resumed early on Friday.

This incident marks the first such occurrence in Chitral in more than 25 years, with the previous incident involving two American paragliders injured during a crash-landing near Rush Lake in Gilgit's Nagar at an altitude of 4,694 meters.