Four members of a Delhi family, holidaying in the Valley, are among those who lost their lives
Tragedy struck the famed ski resort of Gulmarg on Sunday when high-velocity winds uprooted a huge tree that fell on the ropeway for the gondola there, snapping the cables and bringing one of the cars crashing down, which led to seven people dying, including four tourists from Delhi.
Nitish Kumar, Deputy Inspector General of Police, North Kashmir Range, told DNA that the high-velocity winds uprooted the tree, which fell on the cables, causing derailment. "Seven people have died dead so far and there are some injuries as well. Rescue efforts have been launched," Kumar said.
The deceased include a family from Shalimar Bagh in New Delhi, which had come to Kashmir on a holiday. They have been identified as Jayant Andraskar, his wife Manshea Andraskar and their two daughters — Anagha and Janhvi.
After the incident, the ropeway was stopped, with scores of tourists stuck in the cable cars at different altitudes. It took the authorities around three hours to restart the ropeway and rescue the stranded tourists.
One of them, Harish Manchanda of Delhi, told DNA, "We were at the first phase of the gondola ride when the announcement was made that we should board the cars in five minutes because of bad weather. We were five people in the cable car when it started shaking at 3.30 pm. I could gauge something has happened given the way the trolley was shaking. Later, the trolley stabilised and I told my family members to stay calm. We reached Gulmarg around 6 pm."
One of the world's highest ropeways, the Gulmarg gondola ascends from 2,650m to a height of 3,980m. Built by French firm Pomagalski, the 5-km ropeway is divided into two sections, and this is the first accident on the ropeway since its commissioning in 1998. "It is a very unfortunate incident. Efforts are on to rescue the people", said Mehmood Ahmad Shah, Director, Tourism Kashmir.
Under fire for not taking adequate safety measures, the Jammu and Kashmir government has ordered an enquiry into the accident.
"Government has initiated a time-bound inquiry into the Gulmarg Gondola accident to ascertain the facts and take necessary action," tweeted the Peoples Democratic Party, led by J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
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