Inquiry committee into Gulmarg Gondola mishap recommends extra rescue wheel, training for guides as first responders

The inquiry committee into the Gondola mishap, which left 300 tourists stuck mid-air in cabins for six hours on May 25 this year, has called for an extra layer of rescue options and recommended training in vertical rescue operations for guides and photographers “to become the first responders”. Meanwhile, a French team from the Poma company, which installed the cable car, will brief the committee too.

Officials said the preliminary inquiry report into the mishap has identified a few gaps in the rescue services of Gondola, Gulmarg, in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, which is Asia’s highest cable car at an altitude of 8,694 feet. It suggested an additional rescue bull wheel independent of the current section of the bull wheel and gearbox, which runs the cable over towering pylon through pine-dotted forests and rugged mountains.