More than 300 tourists in 65 cabins of the Gulmarg gondola service were stranded mid-air on Monday after Asia’s highest ropeway developed technical problems, and were rescued in an arduous seven-hour operation.

No casualties were reported, officials said.

The rescue, which involved the Jammu and Kashmir police, army, disaster response teams and local people, was launched soon after the system malfunctioned around noon. Officials said evacuation from some of the cabins took longer as they were hovering high above the ground. Heavy rain, too, hampered the efforts.

“The rescue operation has concluded and all those stranded have been evacuated safely,” an official said in the evening.

Both phases of the cable car service have been suspended, officials said.

Multiple videos showed rescuers climbing the lofty towers and moving from cabin to cabin by rappelling along ropes, risking their lives to save the stranded tourists. Trained teams used ropes and ladders to bring the tourists down.

Restoration of the cable car system is under way, the officials said.

Director-general of police Nalin Prabhat said all 320 stranded tourists had been rescued and had returned to the base.

“Those not physically fit — some 45 people — were brought back on stretchers,” he told reporters.

“All of us, together, successfully rescued the tourists. As you can see, it was rainy and cold and the terrain was slippery. We completed the operation despite all odds,”
he said.

The snag hit the first phase of the gondola service, which stretches 2.3km from the base, situated at an altitude of 2,650 metres, to Kongdoori at an elevation of
3,050 metres.

Phase 1 operates 72 cabins, each carrying a maximum of six people, across the bowl-shaped Kongdoori Valley. It has 19 towers. The cabins soar up to 100 feet or more above the ground.

The second phase of the cable car links Kongdoori and Affarwat, 2.65km apart. Affarwat is at an altitude of 3,950 metres. Thirty-four cabins run on this stretch, which has 18 towers.

Official sources said the stranded tourists, who included a large number of women and children, endured a nightmarish experience. “They were all in panic,” an official said.

Deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary said in the evening: “Thank God, all the people have been rescued. In such cases, there are people who have health problems and there can be heart and asthma patients. There were no issues. Everyone has been rescued and the operation has ended.”

He added: "I have spoken to the tourists. Some of them even joked that it was the experience of a lifetime for them."

Chief minister Omar Abdullah, who monitored the rescue effort along with Choudhary in Gulmarg, attributed the incident to a “technical glitch”, adding that the situation was “completely under control and there is no cause for panic”.

The Gulmarg gondola is one of the major attractions in Kashmir, with a record one million visitors enjoying the ride in 2024.