Coimbatore: Parasailing man falls 50 feet, dies

Coimbatore: An adventurous activity to experience the thrill of ‘flying’ in the air turned tragic for a 53-year-old businessman as he died while falling from a height of over 50 feet while parasailing at Codissia Grounds in Coimbatore on Sunday morning.

Within a minute of rising to the sky, Malleshwara Rao, from KTVR Residency in Peelamedu, crashed to the ground and succumbed to injuries on the spot.
After preliminary enquiries, police said the hook latched to his belt and strapped around Rao had come loose leading to his fatal fall.

Several persons took to the adventurous sport of parasailing, organised jointly by Indian Aerospace and Sports Club and Coimbatore Medical College (CMC) as part of the latter’s golden jubilee celebrations that were on since Friday.

The victim, Malleshwara Rao, from KTVR Residency in Peelamedu, came with his family members and friends to enjoy the thrill of parasailing on a holiday. Rao, who was into selling foundry materials, is survived by his wife M. Padmeshwari and two children.

Police said Rao was the second person to go up to parasail on Sunday morning before tragedy struck him in a most unfortunate manner. The video of his crashing on the land shows shocked onlookers crying aloud and running towards him.

In what could be termed as sheer negligence on the part of the organisers, there was no ambulance facility or emergency vehicles stationed at the sporting venue. As soon as Rao crashed on the ground, he was rushed in a vehicle that was used to tow the parachute to the hospital.

However, doctors declared Rao as brought dead.  He had suffered multiple fatal injuries all over his body. “As the club members claim that Rao had unfastened the harness himself during the flight, a probe is on to know if it happened due to negligence or it was just an accident,” said a cop attached to the Peelamedu station.   Further investigations are on.