Around 300 tourists in 65 cabins were stranded mid-air for hours after the cable car system developed technical problems in Jammu and Kashmir's Gulmarg on Monday, with rescue operations hampered by heavy rain. A major multi-agency rescue operation was launched soon after the system malfunctioned around noon, and 179 tourists were evacuated safely in the first five hours, officials said, adding that some of the cabins were nearly 500 ft above ground. Heavy rains in the area have also been hampering rescue operations, they said. Operations of both phases of the Gulmarg cable car service, popularly known as the Gondola, were suspended following a malfunction, they said.
No casualties were reported. Personnel of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) along with police and the Army were involved in the rescue effort. Restoration work on the cable car system is currently underway, the officials said. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the government is "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. The officials said that some of the cabins were hanging at a height of around 500 ft, so evacuating the passengers from these cabins was taking time.
"Passengers have been taken out from around 60 per cent of the cabins so far," an official said. Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant 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 & 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. On June 25, 2017, the Gulmarg Gondola had witnessed an accident when seven people were killed after a tree uprooted by strong winds struck a cabin, causing it to crash to the ground. The cable car had also been temporarily suspended in January last year because of technical issues. 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.