Gulmarg’s world-famous Gondola has once again landed in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Years after a deadly 2017 accident claimed seven lives, another major malfunction left 320 tourists trapped mid-air on Monday, raising serious questions about whether lessons from past tragedies were ever truly learnt or implemented on the ground.
Tourists hanging mid-air in Gulmarg for hours is not merely an embarrassing headline for Kashmir tourism — it is a serious public safety failure. Kashmir sells Gulmarg as a dream destination to the world, but yesterday’s Gondola scare revealed the nightmare that can unfold when safety takes a backseat to tourist rush.
As terrified passengers, including men, women and children, remained suspended for hours following a snag in the cable car system, the incident underscores the urgent need for a comprehensive safety audit before the peak summer season gathers momentum.
The Gulmarg Gondola is the flagship attraction of Kashmir tourism and possibly India’s most popular ropeway at a height of 13,500 ft – Asia’s highest operating cable car. The Gondola has two phases – the first phase takes a person from Gulmarg bowl to Kongdori bowl at a height of 2,650 m (8,694 ft), while the second phase soars to the sky, touching Apharwat at a height of 3,980 m (13,058 ft).
Seven persons, including all four members of a family from Delhi’s Shalimar Bagh holidaying in the famous tourist destination of Gulmarg, were killed on the afternoon of 25 June 2017 as the cable car in which they were taking a joyride crashed down as a deodar tree fell on the gondola wires due to a storm in the area. The Army and police were engaged in rescuing more than 100 other tourists who were stranded in the 15 cable cars that were hanging in the air.
Tourists riding the gondola also faced a traumatic situation on 9 June 2023 when the police rescued nearly 250 tourists who got stuck during a Gondola ride to Phase 2 Apharwat.
Yesterday’s snag witnessed 65 gondolas hanging in the mid-air for about seven hours before all tourists were rescued by the troops of the Army, SDRF and J&K Police.
Despite the challenging weather and high-altitude conditions, the Army. SDRF and Police personnel worked tirelessly to ensure the safe evacuation of all stranded tourists.
Major General Manoj Joshi said that troops from the Butapathri Battalion side-stepped three Casualty Assistance Teams (CATs) between the Gondola Base Station and Phase-1, while the Army also staged forward its own All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) to facilitate evacuation efforts in the challenging terrain and prevailing inclement weather conditions.
The Gulmarg Gondola snags are not the isolated incidents in J&K, two persons were killed on 20 January 2019 when, during a trial run, the 1.66 km long cable car linking the old Jammu city with the Bahu Fort fell mid-way.