Nearly 300 tourists were stranded mid-air on Monday, May 25, 2024, after a technical fault halted the Gulmarg Gondola cable-car system [1].
The incident sparked widespread panic among passengers suspended over the mountains of Jammu and Kashmir. It highlights the critical safety risks associated with high-altitude tourist infrastructure and the necessity of rapid-response emergency protocols in remote terrain.
The malfunction left approximately 300 tourists [1] trapped across 65 cabins [2]. The technical failure brought the entire ropeway system to a standstill, leaving cabins stationary in the air.
A large-scale rescue operation was launched to evacuate the passengers. The response included the Indian Army, Jammu & Kashmir Police, paramilitary forces, and civil defence teams [1]. These agencies coordinated to reach the stranded cabins and bring tourists safely to the ground.
Reports on the number of people successfully evacuated vary. One report said that all 300 tourists were rescued [1], while another indicated that 179 tourists had been rescued at the time of reporting [2].
Gulmarg is a popular hill station and a major tourism hub in the region. The gondola is one of the primary attractions for visitors to the area, providing access to high-altitude views and skiing slopes.
Rescue teams worked to manage the panic of those trapped in the cabins while technical crews attempted to diagnose the cause of the system failure. The multi-agency effort focused on ensuring no passengers remained suspended as the operation progressed [1].
“Nearly 300 tourists were stranded mid-air after a technical fault halted the Gulmarg Gondola.”
This incident underscores the vulnerability of cable-car systems in high-tourism zones and the dependence on military and paramilitary forces for emergency evacuations in the Jammu and Kashmir region. The discrepancy in rescue numbers suggests a chaotic reporting environment during the initial phase of the crisis, emphasizing the difficulty of real-time casualty and rescue tracking in remote mountainous areas.
