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Five killed in Gujarat ropeway accident

By Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD Jan.19. About five persons were killed and 24 injured when three cable cars of the Pavagadh ropeway taking them to a hilltop temple in Panchamahals district of Gujarat collapsed today. Unconfirmed reports, however, put the toll at seven.

An official spokesman said one of the cables snapped around 12.15 p.m. taking with it three of the 18 cable cars in the air at that moment. At least 32 persons in seven other cable cars hanging precariously in midair were rescued by the local administration with the help of Air Force personnel and a State Government helicopter rushed from Ahmedabad. Those trapped in midair sustained injuries as the cars turned topsy-turvy.

On hearing about the accident, the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, sent the Minister for Pilgrim Centres, Ashok Bhatt, to the spot to supervise relief and rescue operations.

While the Panchamahals District Collector ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident to ascertain its cause, which prima facie was claimed as "technical snag", official sources believed that poor maintenance of the system run by a private company on contract could have caused the snapping of the cable.

The deceased have been identified as Rekhaben Phadke (48), a resident of Vadodara, Narendra Duradar (38), of Assam working in the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation in Vadodara, a five-year-old boy from Kevadia Colony, Deepak Patel, and a young couple from Ahmedabad, Rakesh Amin and Kripaben. The injured were being treated at the S.S.G. hospital in Vadodara.

Hundreds of pilgrims use the kilometre-long ropeway on the Pavagadh hills to visit the Mahakali temple on the hilltop.

Pavagadh, about 50 km from Vadodara, is also a pilgrimage centre for Muslims who throng a dargah adjacent to the temple. The ropeway was installed some eight years ago.

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