Shaft breakage confirmed in Timber Trail cable car mishap

Solan, June 27

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A seven-member probe committee today confirmed that the shaft of the ill-fated cable car at Timber Trail Resort near Parwanoo had broken though both its ropes were intact during the June 20 mishap.

Five women and six men had been stranded mid-air for hours on the ropeway. They were safely rescued after hours with the assistance of National Disaster Response Force, resort’s rescue team and the police.

Additional DC Zaffar Iqbal, who heads the magisterial probe committee, while confirming the news, said “Since both the ropes on which the cable car operates were intact and no harm was caused to the position of the cable car after it had stopped with a jerk on the fateful day. Our preliminary probe reveals that the shaft had broken and its technical reason was being ascertained.”

The other members of the committee were DSP Parwanoo, General Manager, Ropeways and Rapid Transport Corporation, Shimla, Ropeways Inspector-cum-Executive Engineer, mechanical wing, PWD, Shimla, Assistant Engineer (mechanical), PWD, Dharampur and Naib Tehsildar, Parwanoo.

The officials recorded statements of the staff comprising assistants who were deputed that day and also examined all records pertaining to the maintenance of the machinery. This will help in identifying the lapses behind the mishap. “All records are being examined by the technical experts and various aspects are being studied to know how the shaft had broken while the cable car was operational,” added Iqbal.

The resort management had suspended the operations of the cable car after the mishap.