Seven killed in Gulmarg cable car accident
Written by : IANS | Mon, Jun 26, 2017, 02:32 PM
Srinagar, June 26: Five people, including four tourists and a local man, were killed on Sunday when a gondola car cabin crashed hundreds of meters down to the ground after its cable snapped in Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir, police said.
"Five persons including a couple and two children and a local were killed in the accident," a police officer said. "Rescue efforts are on to save people trapped in other cars of the gondola cable car project."
The two-stage Gulmarg cable car lift ferries people to a height of 13,780 feet above the sea level. It is the world's second highest operating cable car project with a cabin capacity of ferrying 600 people in one hour.
The other two victims were identified as Mukhtar Ahmed Ganie and Javed Ahmed Khandey, believed to be tourist guides.
An official said rescue teams had gone to the site but further details were not available.
The two-stage Gulmarg cable car lift ferries people to a height of 13,780 feet above the sea level. It is the world's second highest operating cable car project with a cabin capacity of ferrying 600 people in one hour.
The ropeway project -- which has 36 cabins and 18 towers -- is a joint venture of the Jammu and Kashmir government and a French firm and is hugely popular with tourists who flock to Gulmarg, a skiing hub.
The first stage of the cable car transfers people from the Gulmarg resort at 2,600 meters (8,530 feet) to Kongdori station in the bowl-shaped Kongdori Valley, according to the company which operates the cable car.
The second stage takes people to a height of 3,747 meters (12,293 feet) on Kongdori mountain.