Mussoorie ropeway incident: Cable car stuck mid way, over 40 devotees stranded

A ropeway connecting Surkanda Devi temple near Mussoorie got stuck midway due to a technical snag keeping devotees stranded in air for an hour, reports PTI.

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Over 40 devotees along with BJP MLA Kishore Upadhayay got stuck midway for an hour on July 10 when a ropeway connecting Surkanda Devi temple near Mussoorie remained suspended in the air due to a technical snag. Upadhayay said the incident occurred when they were returning from the temple by the ropeway.

The devotees had a sigh of relief as they got down from the ropeway trolley after nearly an hour of being suspended in the air, he said. Ropeway operation to the famous temple has been resumed, Upadhyay said but suggested that it should be properly examined so that the lives of devotees are not risked.

Ropeway's service to the temple situated in the Tehri district began in May this year. It is the first important ropeway project started by the state tourism department after the creation of Uttarakhand. The 502-meter long ropeway was built at a cost of Rs 5 crore and operates between Kaddukhal and Surkanda Devi temple.

Notably, in a more serious incident last month in Himachal Pradesh, 11 people, including five women, were stranded for hours after a cable car was stuck mid-air at Parwanoo Timber Trail in Solan district. All of them were rescued after a six-hour-long operation.

Nearly two months ago, 15 tourists have also trapped mid-air on a ropeway at Trikut hills in Jharkhand's Deoghar district for around 40 hours. Twelve of them were rescued by Indian Air Force helicopters, while three people died in the incident that took place on April 11.

(With inputs from PTI)