SRINAGAR, May 25: Over 300 tourists were left stranded mid-air for hours inside 65 cabins of the famous Gulmarg Gondola cable car after a major technical snag halted Asia’s highest ropeway, causing panic among the holidayers before they were rescued.
A massive, multi-agency rescue operation that lasted seven hours ensured the safe evacuation of all passengers, some of whom were trapped in cabins dangling nearly 500 ft above the ground, officials said.
Operations for both phases of the cable car service were immediately suspended following the glitch, which occurred around noon.
The rescue operation was hampered by heavy rain in the area, they said. Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), the Jammu and Kashmir Police and the Indian
Army’s Chinar Corps worked jointly for hours to complete the safe evacuation of all people, the officials said.
The trained teams used ropes and ladders to bring the tourists down safely. “The rescue operation has concluded, and all the stranded persons have been evacuated safely,” an official said this evening.
Earlier, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said his government was “closely monitoring” the situation.
“All cabins are intact and rescue operations to safely evacuate stranded tourists are underway with trained teams on the ground. The situation is completely under control and there is no cause for panic,” the chief minister said in a post on X.
On the instructions of the chief minister, Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary, accompanied by local MLA Farooq Ahmed Shah and senior administrative officials, visited the tourist resort to oversee the ground coordination.
Officials said that since several cabins were hanging at a height of 500 ft, technical extraction protocols took considerable time.
By late afternoon, 179 tourists had been brought down, with the remaining passengers safely evacuated in subsequent phases as teams cleared the cabins one by one.
Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha said he had directed DGP Nalin Prabhat to proceed to Gulmarg to oversee the rescue operation.
“I’m monitoring the rescue operation for tourists stranded in cable car cabins following a technical fault in Gulmarg. I have directed the DGP to proceed to the site. Joint rescue teams of Police, Army and SDRF along with DC and SSP are conducting the operation to ensure the safety of all tourists,” Sinha posted on X.
The Army said in a post on X that swift and coordinated rescue efforts were launched with the assistance of the Chinar Corps.
The Gulmarg Gondola, one of the highest cable cars in Asia, has experienced technical halts in the past, including a temporary suspension in January last year.
A major tragedy occurred on June 25, 2017, when an uprooted tree struck a cabin during high winds, leading to a crash that claimed seven lives.
Monday’s incident comes a day after a 16-year-old boy died in Agra after a zipline cable snapped at an amusement facility here, causing him to fall nearly 45 ft.
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