The Jharkhand government on Tuesday notified a four-member committee to probe the Trikut Hills ropeway mishap in Deoghar that killed three persons with over 40 tourists having to be rescued from stalled cable cars hanging mid-air in an operation that ran into nearly two and a half days from April 10.

As per the notification issued by the chief minister’s office, the team will be headed by Ajoy Kumar Singh, principal secretary of the state finance department. The other members of the team are tourism secretary Amitabh Kaushal and one representative each from the Indian School of Mines-Dhanbad and the National Highway and Infrastructure Development Corporation.

The committee has been authorized to invite more experts, if required, from any other institution in the country to assistance in the probe. “The team has been asked to furnish a report within two months,” read the notification.

The ropeway is being operated and maintained by Bengal based Damodar Ropeways and Infrastructure Private Limited. This was the first such accident since it began operations in 2009.

On April 10, panic struck the tourist site when a section of the ropeway snapped midway. The ropeway was making its last trip ferrying visitors when 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.

It took over 40 hours thereafter for the government to rescue the stranded tourists by engaging special teams from Indian Air Force, army, ITBP, NDRF and local administration. One person died on the very first day of the incident, while the rest died during the rescue operation.

State government granted Rs 5 lakh compensation to the next of kin of the deceased on Monday while the private firm in-charge of its operation has announced a compensation of Rs 25 lakh each to the kin of the deceased.

Till the completion of the probe, government has sealed the site and has installed CCTV cameras and deployed forces there.