A near-death experience, say stranded passengers
All of us were afraid, and some even broke down, says Rajesh Garg, a Delhi resident
PARWANOO : “We were stuck mid-air for hours. It was dreadful. We thought we would die,” said 53-year-old Reeta Goel, who was among the 11 people stuck in a cable car at Parwanoo Timber Trail in Himachal Pradesh on Monday.
Goel, who was on a two-day visit to the hill state with nine other members of her family, had intended to return to Delhi the same evening, but as luck would have it the entire family spent the day suspended midair due to a technical snag in the trolley’s shaft, waiting for help to arrive. They had got on the cable car for an eight-minute ride at around 10.30am, but only managed to get off at around 5pm after a six-hour rescue operation.
The family of 10 that had a close shave included Manoj Goel, 57; his wife Reeta Goel, 53; Rajesh Garg, 50; his wife Anju Garg, 46;Parveen Garg, 49; Kanika Garg, 49; Gopal Gupta, 56; Sheetal Gupta, 52; and Anand Goel, 52, and Dimpal Goel, 51.
Two cable cars had faced a technical glitch, but the 11 people on the other car, which included a child, were rescued by 12.30pm. One of the rescued persons, Manoj said, “We were scheduled to leave for Delhi at around 11am. The cable car ride was supposed to take just eight minutes, but it stopped midway after a sudden jolt. Initially, we thought a power outage had caused the trolley to stop, it was only later that we learnt that a technical glitch was to blame. No efforts were made to rescue us till noon and all of us were worried,” he said.
“Back home in Delhi, our family members were worried and were constantly in touch with us over the phone, “added Reeta.
“All of us were afraid, and some even broke down in tears, as it took a long time to rescue us. The rescue was also tough for the elderly accompanying us,” said Rajesh Garg.
In a statement, Timber Trail Resort authorities said, the ropeway system stopped working at around 10:45am, and all efforts were made to restore it. “There were two cable cars. Car A was descending towards Timber Trail Resort and Car B was ascending towards Timber Trail Heights,” they said, adding 10 adults and a child were on Car B, and they were rescued by 12:30pm using the inbuilt winch safety mechanism.
“There were 11 people in Car A. The passengers in Car A refused to follow the evacuation procedures and did not consent to be rescued with harness. To persuade them, a rescue team comprising Ropeway in-charge, mechanical engineer and substitute attendant was moved to the Cable Car using a service cabin. All efforts were made to persuade them and finally at 2pm , one person consented to be rescued. The remaining 10 adults, part of one group, agreed for the rescue soon after that and they were rescued one by one. The operation concluded at 5pm,” said advocate Nikhil Goyal in a statement on behalf of the resort.