At least 16 people — 14 tourists and two attendants — were stuck midair when two cable cars developed a snag at Parwanoo Timber Trail in Himachal Pradesh’s Solan district on Monday.
Eleven of them were rescued in an operation that lasted more than six hours. The others reached down safely on their own, officials said.
While one cable car carrying five couples from Delhi, a tourist and an attendant got jammed while coming down, another car stopped near the destination uphill. The latter had on board three youths and an attendant, who managed to use the winch to clamber down to safety.
Later in the day, the state police lodged an FIR against the management of Timber Trail resort management for rashly and negligently endangering human life or personal safety of others. The FIR was registered on the statement of Anand Goyal, one of the rescued tourists, under IPC Sections 336 and 283.
Rescue operation underway at Timber Trail Parwanoo where eleven tourists got stranded on the ropeway near the Kalka-Shimla highway. | Video: @ieJaipalSingh @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/YuypuuJ2WL
State Disaster Management director Sudesh Mokhta said the cable cars got stuck due to a technical snag, which was noticed around 10.30 am.
A similar scene was witnessed at the Timber Trail on October 13, 1992, when the haulage cable broke near the docking station and the cable car carrying 11 passengers slid backwards. In panic, the operator jumped off the car just as it began its slide and died.
#WATCH Cable car trolly with tourists stuck mid-air at Parwanoo Timber Trail, rescue operation underway; tourists safe#HimachalPradesh pic.twitter.com/mqcOqgRGjo
On Monday’s incident, Solan SP Varinder Sharma said another cable trolley was used to rescue the people, and the operation was successful.
A team of National Disaster Response Force and the resort conducted the rescue operation. They brought the passengers to safety with the help of local residents.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, who reached the spot to oversee the rescue operation, told the media that the incident would be probed to determine if there was any negligence on part of the firm running the trail.
The passengers claimed assistance arrived only when their video clips went viral. “We were stunned when the attendants told us that the only way to go down is the rope,” Anita Garg, a rescued tourist from Delhi, said.
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Saurabh ParasharSaurabh Parashar is Special Correspondent based in Chandigarh... read more