Jharkhand Ropeway Accident: Here Are Some Cable Car Mishaps That Occurred Earlier

At least two people were killed and 10 were injured in the incident that occurred due to a technical snag resulting in a collision of cable cars, an official said.

Tourists commute by gondola lifts of Hakone Ropeway over Owakudani volcanic valley (Representational pic: AFP)

New Delhi: Cable cars on a ropeway in Jharkhand's Deoghar district collided with one another on Sunday, leading to three deaths and leaving over 10 injured.

The incident took place 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. Rescue operations were carried out by the  National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and CISF.

The Trikut ropeway, according to the Jharkhand tourism department, is India's highest vertical ropeway. It is around 766-meter long.

This is not the first incident as several such incidents have been reported from across states including Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh in recent years resulting in deaths in some cases.

Here are such incidents from the past: 

Gulmarg Gondola Crash

In 2017, seven tourists were killed in an accident when a tree fell on a ropeway at Gulmarg, a popular sky resort in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district. Four of the dead belong to the same family from Delhi. A police officer said that the cable car fell down after a tree fell on the Gulmarg Gondola ropeway. He told that the tree was uprooted due to strong winds.

Of the seven victims of the accident, four were from the same family in Shalimar Bagh, Delhi and identified as Jayant Andraskar, his wife Manshiya Andraskar and their two daughters Anagha and Jahnavi. A person named Mukhtar Ahmed also died, the official said.

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.

Jammu Cable Car Crash

In 2019, an accident happened during the rescue work of a cable car of the under-construction Jammu Ropeway project in Jammu on Sunday. Two laborers died and four others were injured in this accident. 

During this, the balance of a trolley carrying six laborers deteriorated and the trolley along with the laborers fell down. In this accident, 45-year-old Rakesh Kumar, a resident of Bihar, died on the spot.

Visakhapatnam Incident

Seven individuals were hospitalized after a trolley snapped while they were getting down at Kailasigiri Hill Park in Visakhapatnam in Feb 2016. Following the episode, the district authorities suspended ropeway activities and six cars were grounded.

Authorities said that the lodge vehicle tumbled down when it got detached from the snare which was holding it, as per a report in The Hindu.

Czech Cable Car Accident

In October last year, one individual died after a Czech cable car cabin became detached from its link in the north of the country, while others were saved from another cabin. The cable car to the 1,000 meters Jested Mountain utilizes two cabins, each worked by an individual from staff.

An authority said that one cabin fell while on its way down, which had one individual inside, who tragically succumbed to his injuries.

Several Dead In Italy

A cable car crashed to the ground in a beautiful mountainous area in northern Italy, killing at least nine people and hospitalizing two children. 

This is the place from where Lake Maggiore is visible. Alpine Rescue Service spokesman Walter Milan said the ski lift wire at this location was high above the ground. He told that the cable line was repaired in 2016 and it was opened only after the closure due to COVID-19 pendemic.

It appears to be Italy's worst cable car accident since 1998, when a low-flying US military jet cut the cable of a ski lift in the Dolomites, killing 20 people. Three helicopters were deployed on the mountain as part of the rescue operation.