Jharkhand ropeway accident: One dead, 22 trapped people rescued

Deoghar: Altogether 22 of the people trapped in mid-air in a row of ropeway cable cars for around 24 hours following an accident were rescued in Jharkhand’s Deoghar district on Monday, while one person has died, officials said.

Most of the 22 passengers were airlifted with the help of two Air Force helicopters while others were helped to land vertically, Deoghar Deputy Commissioner Manjunath Bhajantri said.

Over 20 people are still stuck in their cable cars waiting to be rescued in the sweltering heat. Around 24 hours after the accident, drones are used to supply them with food and water. Eleven of the stranded tourists were rescued last night. One of them died late at night while around 12 people suffered injuries in the collision among the cable cars that occurred at around 4 pm on Sunday at Trikut hills, around 20 kilometers from the famous Baba Baidyanth temple of Deoghar town.

Expressing sorrow over the incident, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren said rescue and relief operations are being conducted on war-footing.

”The government is keeping a close watch on the situation,” he said.

”People trapped during the ropeway journey on Trikut mountain under Mohanpur block are being rescued by the combined teams of Air Force, NDRF, Army, and ITBP,” Bhajantri said.

NDRF assistant commandant Vinay Kumar Singh, who is at the spot, told PTI: ”Twenty people have been rescued (till around 4 pm on Monday). Twenty-six people are still stuck in seven trolleys.” Two Air Force choppers have been pressed into service for rescue and relief operations.

Singh said that water and food are being provided to the trapped people with the help of drones.

Health Minister Banna Gupta said an inquiry will be conducted into the incident and action would be taken against those found guilty of negligence.

The injured people were rescued and hospitalized, Bhajantri said adding that one passenger succumbed to injuries in the accident that occurred due to a fault in the ropeway system.

Local BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, however, claimed three people were killed. Bhajantri along with the district Superintendent of Police Deoghar Subhash Chandra Jat has been camping at the spot to monitor the rescue and relief operations.

The ropeway was being run by a private company. Operators running it fled shortly after the accident.

The Trikut ropeway, according to the Jharkhand tourism department, is India’s highest vertical ropeway. It is around 766-meter long. Meanwhile, BJP vice-president and former Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das accused the state government of being inactive even after such a major accident while ministers hailing from the region did not visit the site.

”The government did not care about the lives of the people. The inability to make quick decisions resulted in passengers hanging in the air overnight,” Das said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is keeping an eye on the entire incident, he claimed.

He demanded that the state government provide a compensation of Rs one crore to the next of kin of the deceased and government job besides treatment of the injured at government expense.

He also demanded a high-level inquiry into the incident.