Himachal Pradesh: 11 Tourists Stranded As Cable Car Stuck Mid-Air

Eleven tourists got stranded mid-air as their cable car developed a technical glitch at Timber Trail Parwanoo in Himachal Pradesh.

However, another cable car has been deployed for their rescue and the police are monitoring the operation, said reports.

Speaking about the incident, SP (Solan) Varinder Sharma said that four people, have been rescued by the staff of the resort. All those stranded are tourists from Delhi, he added.

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A similar scene was seen 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 had jumped off the car just as it began its slide and died after his head had hit a rock. The joint operation was carried out by the 152-helicopter unit based at Sarsawa in Uttar Pradesh, 1 Para Commando unit at Nahan, Himachal Pradesh, and an engineers’ unit at Chandimandir. The operatIon was helmed by then Group Capt Fali H Major, who became the IAF chief later in his career.

Major Ivan Joseph Crasto, a para commando, used a helicopter winch to land on top of the car. He opened the escape hatch on top of the car and lifted up the passengers, one at a time. Due to the failing light, only four passengers could be rescued on October 14, and Crasto chose to stay the night in the car. The rest of the passengers were rescued the next day.

Crasto was awarded the Kirti Chakra for this heroic feat while Fali Major, received the Shaurya Chakra and his co-pilot Flt Lt P Upadhyay received the Vayu Sena Medal.

In April this year, three people had died after tourists were stuck in cable cars in Jharkhand’s Deoghar district for more than 40 hours following a technical snag. Altogether, 50 people had been rescued from the cable cars after a malfunction on the 770-m ropeway to the Trikut Hills, a popular tourist spot.

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