A cable car accident in India has left three dead while dozens more were trapped for 24 hours after three carriages collided midway to a mountain pilgrimage site.
Around 48 people were travelling along a steep incline leading up to the Trikut hills in eastern Jharkhand state when three cars crashed into one another late Sunday.
Authorities called in the air force to winch stranded pilgrims out of their carriages with helicopters and drop food and water to others awaiting rescue.
Terrifying footage shows a woman bloodied and in a daze after her trolley crashed.
The doors were broken and splattered with her blood. She was hoisted down from the car and carried to safety as a crowd watched on.
A technical fault is being blamed for the three-way collision but details remain scarce.
The ropeway manager and three other employees at India’s highest vertical cable car, close to tourist hotspot the Baba Baidyanath Temple, reportedly fled the scene.
Indian air force helicopters were deployed to pull stranded people out of the vehicles after more than 24 hours inside.
Two people who jumped from their cable cars were seriously injured, officials said.
Rescuers have managed to retrieve 20 people in the past day out of the 48 trapped.
Temperatures hit highs of 39 degrees earlier today and fell to 22 degrees last night.
Chief response force commander Vinay Kumar Singh told NDTV that drones are bringing food and water to stranded people.
Members of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police are also on the scene.
Fellow rescuer Manjunath Bhajantri said: ‘The situation is completely under control. Some people are still stuck in the cable cars in the ropeway, and they are being rescued. All tourists are being evacuated safely.’
Local villagers are also helping out, he added.
The 766-metres-long track runs almost 400 metres above ground and has 25 cable cars. Each sits four tourists.
Local MP Nishikant Dubey said he told Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Jharkhand Chief Secretary Sukhdeo Singh, requesting deployment of [National Disaster Response Force] teams.
“I thank the Union Home Minister for taking cognisance of the matter immediately,” he said.
The tragic accident follows another cable car crash last year in the Italian Alps, which killed 14 people.
Wires carrying the 15 sightseers snapped, sending the cable car careening down the track at more than 60mph before falling 65ft.
There was just one survivor, five-year-old Israeli boy Eitan Biran.
Source: Daily Mail
