INDIA. MUMBAI: At least two tourists, including a woman, died, and many others were injured when some cable cars in a ropeway collided with each other at Trikut hills close to Baidyanath Temple in Deoghar district of Jharkhand, the North Indian state, on Sunday evening.
While the woman died from her injuries in the Sadar Hospital following the accident, another person was killed before dusk on Monday evening after falling off the IAF helicopter while being airlifted.
Due to poor visibility, the joint rescue operation by the Indian Air Force (IAF), Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), and the district administration was called off after dusk on Monday evening. Thirty-two people were rescued from 12 cars, while at least 15 others remain stranded mid-air. Tourists are all safe. Food was distributed to trolleys as much as possible, but not to all trolleys due to logistical challenges, according to ITBP PRO Vivek Pandey.
On Sunday, April 10, the IAF received a request to rescue the stranded tourists in the middle of the night. The IAF dispatched one Mi-17 and one Mi-17 V5 helicopter early Monday morning in response to the request. The IAF contingent included a component of IAF Garud Commandos for the operations. According to Defense PRO Wing Commander Ratnakar Singh, one of the helicopters conducted a reconnaissance mission in the morning, and operations with the district administration, NDRF, and other agencies began.
The names of the injured given by the Jharkhand Government were: Govind Bhokta (Giridih, Jharkhand), Bhupendra Burman (Kokrajhar, Assam), Deepika Burman(Kokrajhar, Assam), an unidentified girl child, Rupa Kumari(9), (Karmatand, Jamtara, Jharkhand), Soni Devi (Tir Nagar, UP), Raman Kumar Srivastava, (Darbhanga, Bihar), Sudha Rani Raman Kumar Srivastava (Darbhanga, Bihar), Khusbu Rani Ramankumar Srivastava (Darbhanga, Bihar).
Around 766-metres long, Trikut Ropeway is the highest vertical ropeway with a maximum lens angle of 44 degrees. The Trikut hill is 392-meter high. The ropeway has 25 cabins, each of which can accommodate four passengers.
Also Read: MTN Nigeria to Operate Momo Payment Service Bank, Point of Sale
