Deoghar Ropeway Accident kills 2: 10 worst cable car disasters
When was the last time you took a ride in a cable car? Perhaps it was on that vacation in a hill station a few months or years ago... Did it ever occur to you that the cable car ride might be dangerous?
Of course not. Cable cars are rarely seen as a dangerous ride. Cable cars don’t twist and turn in intimidating ways like those rides at an amusement park. It is a comfortable ride up a mountain or across a region with pleasing views. But when the trollies collide or the rope snaps, it’s a fatal crash or a death trap.
On April 10, 2022, two cable cars on India’s highest ropeway in Jharkhand collided with each other.
Of 12 trolleys (stuck), 8 people rescued. About 40 people who're still stuck, are safe...By late evening it's possible that we complete rescue op. Food being provided as much as possible, though not to all trolleys due to difficulties: Vivek Pandey, PRO, ITBP on Deoghar incident pic.twitter.com/bzqvJe5j2q
— ANI (@ANI) April 11, 2022
The accident on the Trikut ropeway has killed at least 2 people and left some 40 people stranded mid-air for nearly an entire day. Rescue operations by the Indian Army, ITBP, IAF and NDRF are currently underway.
#WATCH | A recce was conducted by one of the helicopters in the morning and operations are underway in coordination with the district administration and NDR to rescue people from ropeway site near Trikut in Deoghar, Jharkhand pic.twitter.com/Mum5Tq73nq
— ANI (@ANI) April 11, 2022
But the Trikut cable car accident is not a first in India or elsewhere.
Here are 10 bone-chilling cable car accidents from India and around the world (Warning: It’s the stuff of nightmares):
1. 2017 GULMARG GONDOLA ACCIDENT
#ActOfGod: say officials on cable car crash in #Gulmarg which had killed 7 persons yesterday, claim all security norms were followed pic.twitter.com/uAiwKDhEAD
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 26, 2017
The horrifying Gulmarg Gondola cable car crash killed 4 of a family and 3 tour guides in 2017. Why and how did the crash happen? It seems like pure bad luck or a script for a Final Destination film; a tree uprooted due to strong winds, fell on the ropeway carrying the trolley and snapped it. The cable car carrying the victims plummeted to the ground from a great height.
A few others were injured and around 150 people were stranded due to the accident. The then Jammu and Kashmir government ordered a high-level inquiry into the accident and to look into why the cable cars were being operated during strong winds.
2. 2021 CHHATTISGARH CABLE CAR CRASH
In 2021, a labourer was killed when the ropeway trolley he was travelling in crashed into a tower in Rajnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh. The man died after falling some 1,300 metres after the crash. The trolley was carrying him down the Bamleshwari Devi temple in Dongargarh. It was reported that the trolley got disbalanced while on the ropeway, resulting in it crashing into a tower.
The trolley the victim was travelling in was not supposed to be ferrying people and was used only to transport construction materials. It is also the same ropeway that had been inaugurated in March 2020 and is open for devotees.
3. 1992 TIMBER TRAIL INCIDENT
#OnThisDayIn a unique aerial operation on 14 & 15 Oct 92, #IAF along with @adgpirescued ten tourists stranded in a suspended cable car at Timber Trail Resorts, Parwanoo. pic.twitter.com/MGCNe4OuJl
— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) October 14, 2021
The Timber Trail cable car ride is a popular attraction in Parwanoo, HImachal Pradesh, near Chandigarh. Tourists headed towards the Timber Trail mountain resort often take this 8-minute ride which offers beautiful views. However, in 1992, the cable car ride for 11 tourists became a life-and-death situation. The 11 tourists, along with the ropeway attendant Ghulam Hussain, boarded trolley B on that fateful October day.
Everything was going fine. The cable car was moving up the ropeway, the tourists were savouring every moment of the ride, and it was about to come to a halt at its destination, the attendant had opened the latch of the door, when it happened. Instead of moving up, the trolley went hurtling down at break-neck speed. The attendant and a tourist were either thrown out of the trolley or jumped. The tourist survived, but the attendant did not.
Fortunately, the trolley with 10 people on board including a child got stuck on the ropeway due to a tree. The 10 people were finally rescued by the Indian Air Force and the Army.
4. 2016 VISAKHAPATNAM ACCIDENT
In 2016, seven people were injured and taken to the hospital after the cable car they were travelling in, down the Kailasigiri Hill Park in Visakhapatnam, snapped from the hook and fell down.
5. 2021 ITALY CABLE CAR CRASH
? #Verbania #23maggio, incidente funivia Stresa-Alpino-Mottarone: concluso il lavoro dei 30 #vigilidelfuoco impegnati per l'ispezione della cabina precipitata e per il recupero dei corpi privi di vita delle 13 vittime [20:30 #23maggio] pic.twitter.com/WLbjMVtae8
— Vigili del Fuoco (@emergenzavvf) May 23, 2021
The most horrible recent cable car crash was in Italy in 2021, when 14 people were killed. The cable car crash was even captured on CCTV camera. The cable car was operating on the Stresa–Alpino–Mottarone ropeway in northern Italy and crashed to the ground due to a broken traction cable. A 5-year-old survived the fall but lost his parents and sibling in the accident.
6. 2021 CZECH CABLE CAR CRASH
One person was killed in the accident when the trolley detached from the ropeway and plummeted to the ground.
7. 1976 CAVALESE CABLE CAR CRASH
It remains the deadliest cable car accident in history. In March 1976, a fully occupied cable car was descending from Mt Cermis, near a ski resort in Cavalese, Italy. According to the sole survivor of the accident, then the 14-year-old girl from Milan, Alessandra Piovesana, the cable car was descending normally. Everything was fine. She and her two friends were facing the front of the cabin. It had a panoramic view of the surroundings.
The cable car came to a halt midway. It remained halted for about a minute before it started moving down again. People were laughing and having fun, when suddenly there was a loud noise, the cabin jerked and it crashed. Piovesana said the fall must not have lasted more than 4 seconds. But it killed 43 people on board.
Why did it crash? It was reported that the carrier cable and support cable overlapped causing the crash.
8. 1998 CAVALESE CABLE CAR CRASH
In February 1998, a cable car crashed over 80 metres down when the ropeway snapped. The ropeway, in fact, snapped due to a US aircraft flying too low, defying regulations. The accident killed 20 people.
9. 1990 TBILISI ACCIDENT
In 1990, two cable cars on a ropeway route between Rustaveli Avenue and Mount Mtatsminda, in Tbilisi, capital of the then Soviet Georgia, crashed, killing 19 people and injuring some 42 others. The two cable cars, both moving in opposite directions, were nearing the destination when the hauling rope inside the upper trolley snapped. The lower trolley crashed into a building, while the upper trolley came hurtling down.
10. 1983 SINGAPORE ACCIDENT
In January of 1983, two cabins plunged into the sea from 55 metres after an oil rig passing from underneath the ropeway struck the cable and snapped it. The accident killed 7 people.
To be fair to cable cars, accidents can happen anywhere (and at any time).