Several tourists sustained injuries following collision of cabins (chair cars) midway at the ropeway at Tirkut hills in Jharkhand’s Deoghar district on Sunday evening.
Deputy commissioner Manjunath Bhajantri confirmed the incident but the administration hasn’t officially shared figures on the number of injured or casualty in the incident. Unconfirmed sources however claimed that at least one person had died while many were stranded on the ropeway till the time of filing this report at 10 pm.
Rescue operations were underway by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
Bhajantri in a statement said, “We have pressed a team from National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), who along with the local administration is conducting rescue operations. Situation is under control and we appeal public to refrain from any misleading information.”
A view of mishap site The Telegraph Picture
According to local sources, the incident occurred around 5.30pm, when the ropeway was making its last trip. One of the cabins (chair cars) first collided with another cabin, which in turn hit a rock leading to snapping of a wire on which a cabin was suspended. Photos that went viral on social media had one man thrown out of the cabin and hanging with a wire, hundreds of feet above the ground level.
Mohanpur police station officials where the incident happened didn’t receive call when tried nor did the deputy commissioner.
Deoghar SDO (civil) Abhijit Sinha however told local reporters that the injured were sent to local Sadar hospital. On those who were stranded in the cabins, he said, “Some 70 tourists were still stranded.”
Both state disaster management department minister Banna Gupta and sports, art, culture and youth affairs minister Hafizul Alam issued tweets over the incident stating that directives have been given to Deoghar administration to ensure proper rescue and treatment of the tourists.
The ropeway service in Trikut Hills, which began in 2003 is the only such tourist facility in the entire state. The three peaks of the TRIKUT hill signify the holy trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. The ropeway was built to take pilgrims to the top of the hill, which was otherwise difficult due to the steep climbing angle and lack of a road to the top of the hill.
Trikut Hills contain three peaks and the highest peak goes to the height of 2470 ft from the sea level and around about 1500 ft from the ground making it an ideal location for trekking. The ropeway takes the tourists to the top of main peak offering a 360 degree view of Deoghar. The entire ropeway length is about 800 m.
