Jharkhand ropeway rescue over; accident not the first one in India
In the past too ropeway accidents have been reported from across states. A look at ropeway crashes in India over the years
The rescue operation at the Jharkhand ropeway accident site was finally completed on Tuesday after 46 hours. Four persons died while 47 were rescued from cable cars on a ropeway – known as Trikut ropeway – in Jharkhand’s Deoghar district. The accident occurred on Sunday afternoon after two cable cars collided with each other due to a technical glitch on the ropeway at Trikut Hills close to Baba Baidyanath Temple. The rescue operations were carried out by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and CISF.
This is not the first such incident involving cable cars in India; ropeway accidents have been reported over the years from across states – from Jammu & Kashmir to Himachal Pradesh to Chhattisgarh.
2021: Chhattisgarh trolley accident
A labourer died after a ropeway trolley he was travelling in crashed into a tower in Dongargarh area of Rajnandgaon district in February, 2021. The accident happened a year after the 1,300-metre-long ropeway was inaugurated for ferrying devotees to the Bamleshwari Devi temple.
Official said the trolley was being used for transporting construction material and was not supposed to be ferrying people. A probe was ordered into the incident. The temple is situated on a hilltop at a height of about 1,600 feet.
2019: Jammu cable car crash
In January 2019, an accident happened during the rescue work of a cable car of the under-construction Jammu Ropeway project in Jammu. Two labourers died and four others were injured in the accident.
The cable car crashed during a mock drill, days before its inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The incident reportedly occurred due to some technical snag near the Mahamaya temple.
2017: Gulmarg gondola crash
In yet another accident in Jammu & Kashmir, seven tourists were killed in June 2017 when a tree fell on a ropeway at Gulmarg, a popular sky resort in the state’s Baramulla district. A police officer said that the cable car fell down after a tree fell on the Gulmarg Gondola ropeway, according to agency reports. He said the tree was uprooted due to strong winds. Four of the dead belong to the same family from Delhi. Around 150 people were rescued.
The Gulmarg cable car carries and brings people to an altitude of 13,780 feet above sea level in two phases. It is the second tallest cable car project in the world, with a transport capacity of 600 persons per hour.
2016: Visakhapatnam incident
Seven individuals were hospitalised after a trolley snapped while they were getting down at Kailasigiri Hill Park in Visakhapatnam in February 2016. The district authorities later suspended ropeway activities and six cars were grounded.
Officials said that the cabin car fell down when it got disconnected from the hook which was holding it, according to a report in The Hindu.
1992: Himachal ropeway accident
Among one of the first such accidents in the country, one person died and 10 were rescued when the cable of a ropeway near Parwanoo in Himachal Pradesh snapped. The 1.8-km long ropeway starts from Timber Trail, a resort at about 2000 feet, to Timber Heights, a hotel at 5,000 feet.
As the cable broke loose, the trolley accelerated to about 280 kmph, the overhead pulley wheels gave way, emitting fumes and fire. Luckily, it came to a stop and got suspended mid-air. Indian Airforce helped in the rescue of the tourists, who remained stranded for over a night.
Similar accidents have also over the last couple of years reported from Italy, where nine people died, and Czech Republic, where one person lost his life.
