Several hundred tourists were stranded mid-air after the Gulmarg Gondola cable car developed a technical snag on Monday, triggering a large-scale rescue operation to evacuate those trapped in the cabins.
By evening, around 300 tourists trapped in nearly 65 cabins had been rescued after an arduous seven-hour operation jointly carried out by the Army, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), police and other agencies. No casualties were reported, officials said.
Army officials said a distress call was received from the Jammu and Kashmir Police and the Gondola Management Authority regarding the safety and evacuation of stranded tourists, following which rescue teams were immediately mobilised to the affected area.
According to the Army, troops from the Butapathri Battalion deployed three Casualty Assistance Teams, while an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) was also moved forward to facilitate evacuation in the difficult terrain and adverse weather conditions.
Officials said the snag in the Gondola cable car system led to the sudden suspension of services between the Base Station and Phase-I (Kongdori) amid adverse weather conditions. Operations of both phases of the cable car service were suspended following the malfunction.
The SDRF, NDRF, Jammu and Kashmir Police and other civil agencies also joined the rescue efforts. Officials said some cabins hovering nearly 500 feet above the ground took longer to evacuate, while heavy rains hampered rescue operations. Trained rescue teams used ropes and ladders to bring tourists down safely.
The rescue efforts involving the Army, SDRF, NDRF, police and other responding agencies were called off after all stranded tourists were evacuated safely, officials said. Restoration work on the cable car system is currently underway.
“Technical teams from the Gondola authorities are assessing the exact nature and extent of the malfunction, while rescue and assistance operations have been completed,” the Army said.
Earlier, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the government was “closely monitoring” the situation.
“All cabins are intact and rescue operations to safely evacuate stranded tourists are underway with trained teams on the ground. The situation is completely under control and there is no cause for panic,” the chief minister said in a post on X.
Omar also deputed Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary to the site.
A J&K government spokesperson said Lt Governor Manoj Sinha spoke to Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo and directed Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat to proceed to the site and oversee the rescue operation. “I’m monitoring the rescue operation for tourists stranded in cable car cabins following a technical fault in Gulmarg,” Sinha said in a post on X.
