The morning of April 10 began like any other morning in Deogarh, Jharkhand, with locals busy with their work and tourists from across the country excited to explore the Trikoot hills. However, nobody saw the tragedy coming, which was soon to strike the excited tourists.
The cable car accident that left several people stranded at a height of hundreds of feet above the ground, for more than a day, stunned the entire country and the images from the site left everyone in shock.
In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, Superintendent of Police, Deogarh, IPS officer Subhash Chandra Jat, spoke about the unfortunate mishap and the efforts of several organizations to rescue the victims.
THE ACCIDENT
Around 4:30 PM on April 10, on the day of Ram Navami, while Mr. Chandra along with DSP Pawan Kumar was patrolling just five kilometers away from Trikoot hills, they heard a booming noise from the nearby region. The SHO, who rushed to the area to see what the commotion was about, made a frantic call to the SP.
“He informed us that there has been a collision between two cable cars on the ropeway due to which 12 cables have stopped functioning mid-air and several people are stuck in the air. I reached the place within 10 minutes and witnessed utter chaos. The security guards had been surrounded by the public and the technicians had fled the place,” SP Chandra told Indian Masterminds.
Both the officers immediately sent police teams to the location to clear out the crowd and rescue the security guards. The silver lining of the situation turned out to be the locals of the place who were working nearby and were aware of the functioning of the ropeway.
THE RESCUE
“We calmed everyone down and asked for help to rescue the ones stuck. The locals immediately set out to help us in rescuing and we provided our support to them in whichever way they needed it. Within hours, they rescued a woman stuck in a cable car who was bleeding profusely and was taken to the hospital immediately.”
Gradually, the locals could rescue people from six cable cars that were close to the ground. One of the cables was way too high in the air, and because of the accident, it broke and crashed into the hill.
“Four people were stuck in that cabin, one with serious injury and three not-so-serious ones. The locals carried them on their backs and brought them to the ground from between the hills. This showed how the society supported us, and the combined efforts of police and the locals proved to be a great help in the initial crucial hours,” Mr. Chandra said.
To rescue the others still stuck in the cable cars, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) also reached the location within a few hours. By that time, the sun had already set, and darkness had engulfed the region. To fight the dark, the officer arranged for Esther lights and other light sources from the police line.
“It was necessary to calm the people stuck in the higher, unreachable cables. We communicated with them through material ropes and tried providing them with some food and water through camera drones. This was a difficult task in itself since the drones were not designed to carry heavy weights and we could not arrange for cargo drones. Therefore, the eatables could only reach a few cable cars and not all,” said Mr. Chandra.
INVOLVEMENT OF THE ARMY
Looking at the seriousness of the situation, the Indian Army, Indian Air Force, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) were called in for help. ITBP, NDRF, and the Indian Army dispatched their teams immediately and reached the location between 2-3 am on Monday morning.
“Soon Indian Army arrived with a Brigadier rank officer. We arranged for a helipad nearby and called in several ambulances. Security was also arranged to keep curious onlookers away. The chopper arrived around 6:20 am, sparking hopes for the people stuck in the cables,” Mr. Chandra said.
Under the coordination of SDM Dinesh Kumar Yadav, they started their rescue operation around 10 am after re-fuelling, but the first attempt had to be abandoned due to instability in the chopper owing to the hilly terrain. The Air Force tried once again and successfully rescued the first person, bringing a sigh of relief to the rest.
“After that, the operation went on smoothly owing to the great efforts of the Indian Air Force, the Army, ITBP, NDRF, CRPF, and especially the local people who rescued around 12 people on their own, with the support of ITBP and NDRF,” Mr. Chandra told Indian Masterminds.
SUCCESSFUL AT LAST
The long operation finally came to an end. The efforts of the locals and the police to calm down the people at the initial stage greatly helped to avoid another crash.
However, despite their undying effort, three people, unfortunately, lost their lives while getting rescued. The government immediately compensated the families with Rs. 4 lakh each and the district is keeping them in their prayers.
The authorities gave their best in the rescue mission with no food to eat or water to drink for almost 36 hours. The hard work of all the people who helped in the rescue mission and the patience of the ones stuck in the cable cars for over a day will be remembered for a long time with respect and admiration.
