Nearly 300 tourists were safely rescued on Monday after operations of the Gulmarg Gondola in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district were suspended due to a technical snag, leaving several passengers stranded mid-air for hours, officials said.
According to officials, the cable car system suddenly stopped functioning because of a technical fault, trapping tourists inside multiple gondola cabins. A large-scale rescue operation was immediately launched by teams from the SDRF, NDRF, Jammu and Kashmir Police, Army and the civil administration.The technical issue affected both phases of the gondola service, one of Kashmir’s most popular tourist attractions. Authorities confirmed that all cabins remained stable throughout the incident and no injuries were reported.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the government was closely monitoring the situation and assured tourists there was “no cause for panic”.“Rescue operations to safely evacuate stranded tourists are underway with trained teams on the ground.
The situation is completely under control,” the Chief Minister’s office said in a statement.Officials added that technical experts were deployed to identify the fault and restore the gondola service at the earliest.Eyewitnesses said panic spread among tourists, including women and children, after the cable cars came to a halt mid-air. However, rescue teams successfully evacuated all passengers without any mishap.
Located around 52 kilometres from Srinagar, Gulmarg Gondola is one of India’s premier ropeway attractions and a major draw for tourists visiting Kashmir.Situated at an altitude of nearly 2,650 metres above sea level, Gulmarg attracts lakhs of visitors every year during both winter and summer seasons for skiing, snowboarding and sightseeing.Built by French company Pomagalski and operated by the Jammu and Kashmir Cable Car Corporation, the two-phase gondola is regarded as one of the highest and longest cable car projects in the world.The ropeway carries tourists from Gulmarg to Kongdori at an altitude of around 3,080 metres and further to the slopes of Apharwat Peak, situated between 3,950 and 4,200 metres above sea level, offering panoramic views of the snow-covered Himalayan ranges.
The incident also brought back memories of the 2017 Gulmarg Gondola tragedy, in which seven people, including four tourists from Delhi, lost their lives after strong winds uprooted a tree that fell on the ropeway, causing a cabin to crash.