Jharkhand ropeway mishap: Why did management choose to flee?

At least 2 persons have died while 48 others lay trapped mid-air in a row of 12 ropeway trollies that collided with each other at Trikut hills, close to Baba Baidyanath Temple, in Jharkhand's Deoghar district.

The rescue operation at Jharkhand's Deogarh has been taken over by Indian Air force. 32 people have been rescued while 15 people are still trapped mid-air in three cable cars. The entire district machinery is involved in the evacuation exercise.

Prima facie it seemed that a technical snag caused the accident.

The ropeway was being run by a private company. Operators running the system fled the area shortly after the accident. The Trikut ropeway is India's highest vertical ropeway with a maximum lens angle of 44 degrees.

The ropeway, situated around 20 km from Baba Baidyanath Temple, is around 766-metre-long, while the hill is 392-metres-high. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren ordered a high-level investigation into the ropeway accident.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also constantly monitoring the situation. He also discussed the rescue operations with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The Indian Army, National Disaster Response Force, Air Force and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) have together constituted joint coordination with district admin for this rescue operation.

The IAF deployed one Mi-17 and one Mi-17 V5 helicopter to carry out the rescue operations.