7 dead in Gulmarg cable car accident

srinagar — A family of four from Delhi and three local residents were killed on Sunday when a gondola car cabin crashed hundreds of metres down to the ground after its cable snapped in Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

Senior police officer Imtiyaz Hussain said that four other people were injured in the accident. One of the injured was in critical condition.

Precise details of what happened were unclear but police sources said the cable may have snapped after a giant tree fell on it, sending several cabin cars hurtling down a valley in the otherwise tourist paradise.

“A couple and two children were among the dead,” a police officer said. “Rescue efforts are on to save people trapped in other cars of the gondola cable car project.”

The dead were identified as Jayant Anderaskar, his wife Manisha and their daughters Anagha and Jhanvi. They were reported to be from Shalimar Bagh in Delhi.

The other two victims were identified as Mukhtar Ahmed Ganie and Javed Ahmed Khandey, believed to be tourist guides.

An official said rescue teams had gone to the site but further details were not available.

The two-stage Gulmarg cable car lift ferries people to a height of 13,780 feet above the sea level. It is the world’s second highest operating cable car project with a cabin capacity of ferrying 600 people in one hour.

The ropeway project — which has 36 cabins and 18 towers — is a joint venture of the Jammu and Kashmir government and a French firm and is hugely popular with tourists who flock to Gulmarg, a skiing hub. — IANS, AP