AHMEDABAD, 20 January 2003 — Army and air force personnel helped rescue some two dozen passengers trapped on a ropeway in Gujarat after an accident yesterday killed at least seven people and injured 18, officials and eyewitnesses said.
The accident occurred in Pavagadh town in Panchmahal district, some 150 km from Gujarat’s principal city of Ahmedabad, when a ropeway collapsed sending four cable cars hurling some 30 feet to the ground.
Eight cable cars were stranded at various points along the 736 meter-long ropeway after the accident.
The ropeway connects Pavagadh with a hilltop temple. This is the third such accident in India in 11 years.
Gujarat Health Minister Ashok Bhat said earlier only five deaths had been confirmed. But police sources later confirmed seven people have died.
The exact number of people trapped was not immediately known. Initial reports put the number at 30 but state home secretary K. Nityanandam said later the number was 42. Eyewitnesses at the accident site said two-dozen people had been rescued by late yesterday evening and that two or three still remained to be brought to safety.
