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The last flight of Didier, a paraglider from Essonne found dead in the Pyrenees

2020-08-12T16:51:58.251Z


The body of this 57-year-old man, an experienced instructor in Villebon-sur-Yvette, was found on Tuesday in the mountains. His relatives mourn an ul


In the green immensity of the Pyrenean massif, a blue and purple spot suddenly jumps out at him. Around 1 p.m. this Tuesday, aboard the private helicopter chartered for research, a friend of Didier Kalama recognizes his paraglider wing. According to the newspaper La Dépêche, his remains are found very close to this sail, which lies in a mountain ravine not far from Lake Oô (Haute-Garonne). The CRS then repatriated her to Luchon. A police investigation was opened to clarify the causes of the tragedy.

It took intense research and the unfailing mobilization of his relatives to find the body of this 57-year-old man. Didier was finally only about ten kilometers from his place of departure, Val-Louron (Hautes-Pyrénées). Five days earlier, this federal paragliding instructor from Essonne had flown with his friends from the Migratory Piafs club, based in Villebon-sur-Yvette.

On August 6, he "disappears from the air"

On Thursday August 6, twenty paragliders set off at noon for Spain, following a predefined long-distance route. The weather conditions look good. “Suddenly, Didier went south, without anyone knowing why,” says Céline, a relative. At the end of the day, when the sportsmen return to earth, he is the only one missing. At the start, the “Piafs” didn't worry about it more than that: Didier is an experienced paraglider, he was able to decide to fly over an area alone. Or to land somewhere, for a reason that belongs to him. And then, the network is sometimes lacking on the mountain slopes.

"He must have slept there and will come back the next day," suppose the most confident. "He is surely stuck under a tree or injured, and cannot reach us" reason the others. But the night passes, and the anxiety grows. Neither his cell phone nor his radio answer. Didier has "disappeared from the air".

The "veil" of Didier Kalama, when he disappeared.DR  

From Friday morning, at 6 am, his relatives alert the Arreau gendarmerie. The authorities are taking things seriously, since the French army, the Spanish Guardia civil and the Pierrefitte high mountain gendarmerie platoon are mobilized. A “Rescape Didier” WhatsApp cell is created.

Thanks to donations from an online kitty, which exceeds 13,000 euros, the instructor's relatives rent a private helicopter at an exorbitant cost (26 euros per minute) in order to refine the research. It is finally this machine which makes it possible to locate it this Tuesday. The remaining money from the kitty, now closed, will be used to finance the funeral or will be donated to the family of the deceased, says its creator.

Former acrobat and caving enthusiast

Didier lived in Verrières-le-Buisson, and had a daughter in her twenties. He worked as an independent institutional videographer with various municipalities in the region. Passionate about nature, Didier notably made a documentary on the canyons in Spain. But his real hobby was still sport. “He's a former gym teacher who was a flyer paraglider,” explains Mathias Szpirglas, a friend for 10 years and a member of the Piafs club. He was an ultra-sporty mountaineer who knew the Alps well. He also offered introductions to caving, his second sporting passion. Didier was also president from 2008 to 2013 of the Chilly-Mazarin caving club.

Of Didier, Mathias will remember a man "considerate, endowed with a crazy humor", with whom he will have split "good slices of laughter". When a quarrel had split the “Piafs” in two, a few years ago, Didier had tried to “unite the group”. “He was a very open person, very tolerant of the opinions of others,” adds Mathias. Others salute his “modesty” and “pedagogy”.

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The two friends had met ten years ago during a "Piaf camp", already in the Pyrenees. “For a young driver like me, at the time, his experience was invaluable,” he recalls. Their friendship continued in Essonne, where Didier introduced amateur paragliders to the hillocks of the Courcouronnes training site. “Paragliding was her whole life,” Céline concludes.

VIDEO. A paraglider caught in a whirlwind of sand

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2020-08-12

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