Devgarh Ropeway Rescue Operation

On 11 and 12 April, 2022, one MI 17 V5 and ALH MK 3 Helicopter each of Indian Air Force flew 26 hours undertaking 28 sorties in an unending period of 45 hours. This was done to Rescue 60 Passengers trapped in 15 Cable Cars of 1400 feet high, 2600 feet long Rope Way at Devgarh, Jharkhand. This operation was performed in absolute Inhospitable Terrain at 6000 above MSL, in extremely adverse weather conditions. According to the Official Tweet of Indian Air Force; “This was an extremely challenging Operation. Sadly, two victims of cable car accident plunged to death after being picked up by IAF helicopters. We deeply regret these unfortunate deaths”.

Operation of this Rope Way started way back in 2007 under authority of the State Government by her Employees and subsequently handed over to Damodar Ropeway and Infra Limited in 2009. Initial investigations have revealed that; neither Rescue Drills supposed to be done every three months, had not been conducted in last two three years; nor Monthly Maintenance was carried out during this period. In addition, due to frequent breakdown in Electric Supply, the Rope Way is generally operated on Generator Sets as was done on that Fateful Day.

In this operation; one male and one female passenger each, fell down on ground due to misfortune while being rescued. Female Passenger fell down just after exiting from Cabin and Male Passenger; fell down just after reaching the Cabin. He tried to/caught Floor Board of the Helicopter but failed to come up the Board. The man died immediately on hitting the ground and the woman during treatment. Another Female died in Cabin when she ht her head n bar ob Cabin Car due to its collision with another Cable Car. The accident was result of a Cabin Car colliding with a protrusion of Mountain. Due to impact of collision, Axle of Cabin Car slipped of the Cable Way and said Car became stationary. Resultantly, remaining Cable Cars travelling at speed, started colliding with each other and all movements of Cable and Cable Car came to a naught. All Cable Cars remained hanging in the same place for remaining time.

Rescue Operation involved Garud Commandos of Indian Air Force, Indo Tibetan Border Police Constables and National Disaster Response Force Personnel. Unfortunately, such a big Mishap/Accident was vastly/virtually ignored by Indian Media due to their interest/involvement in celebrations of Ambedkar Jayanti, Mahavir Jayanti and Good Friday; stormy resignation of a Minister in Karnataka as well as bloody riots which followed Shobha Yatras on occasion of Ram Navmi and Hanuman Jayanti in Eight States .

Apart from this; five Cable Car Accidents have had happened in India; Parwanoo, Shivalik, Himachal Pradesh (12 deaths) in 1992, Visakhapatnam (no deaths) in 2016, Gulmarg, Kashmir (seven deaths) in 2017, Jammu (two deaths) in 2019 and Dongargarh, Chhattisgarh (three deaths) in 2021. On the other hand; nine Cable Car Accidents, including two in Italy, two in Czechoslovakia, three in Georgia and two in Sweden, have resulted in 65 deaths. While serving with Special Frontier Force: SSF in early stages of my career in Army, I was part of quite a few Air Rescue Operation in War Zone as well in Mountains. So, I am aware of nuances/nut bolts of Air Rescue Operations. But I have never heard of /seen such an unfortunate, ghastly and bizarre accident before. Unfortunate deaths during evacuation of victims were heard/ seen only in Devgarh Rope Way Mishap.

As it always happens, in this Operation too; Rescuers had to work and were tested in God forsaken, Inhospitable Terrain, at a height of 6000 feet above Mean Sea Level and 15-1600 feet above Ground Level, facing Strong Gusty Winds. Similarly; Helicopter Pilots and Crew were made/required to fly in such a way that Helicopter remains steady/does not swing and neither its Body nor Top or Rear Rotor touches the Ropeway or Cable Car. According to eyewitnesses, this is what happened. A Cabin Car collided with a mountain protrusion, causing its axle to slip off the Cable/Rope way, and the holding wire broke resulting it becoming stationary. Because of this, the rest of running Cabin Cars started colliding with each other. Since most of the Cabin Cars were near the mountain mass, Helicopters could not reach the Victims and Rescue/Air Lift them easily.

Three videos of the accident, taken by Reporters of a private channel "Bihar Tak", have gone viral on Social Media. First Video shows a woman, about 50 years old, falling down in the Cabin she was riding and hitting the side due to impact. In Second Video, a 30-35 year old man is seen hanging on the Cabin Floor of rescuing Helicopter for a while and then gradually slip off to fall on Ground. While in the Third Video, a 60-65 year old woman is seen crashing down after getting out of Cabin wearing the strop as her winch cable gets stuck in Cable Car Hook/Ropeway. After these videos were put on Internet; very acid, malicious,uncouth, irresponsible comments; questioning the Proficiency, Training, Working Ability and Efficacy of People involved in Rescue Operation started pouring in. This was done by the ways of Letters to Editor/Stray Articles in few select Newspapers and Comments on these videos on Internet. Whether this was a deliberate attempt to malign, discredit and vilify Security Forces or was done out of Emotional Outburst or Ignorance, is not clear. But this is my humble attempt to put forth Perceived Reality for clearing the FOG presented to Readers by these comments and ignorant, unscrupulous, false propaganda.

A properly secured pull-up mechanism used to pull the Victim from place of mishap to the Helicopter Cabin is installed by combination of Pulley and Rope (winch cable). This is called Winching Operation.

This system is not installed/present in all Helicopters. These Helicopters also have an electrically operated “Pyrotechnic Cable Cutter” to cut the winch if the Winch Cable get stuck with man/luggage; if Winch Cable swings due to swaying of Helicopters and get stuck some resulting in Fatal Pull of Helicopter towards stuck object. This is done in extreme circumstances when Helicopter safety is compromised during Rescue. During Winching Operation; a Certified Rescuer is lowered to assist the victim on site to wear Strop correctly. After any mishap; victims are usually Totally Stunned, Terrified, Panicky and Disoriented. This is but Natural. As a result of this psychological condition; it is also natural for victims to respond with Extreme Reactions or to Act Arbitrarily, in defiance of Safety Rules/Instructions given/issued to them. Helicopter Rescue Operation is not a daily event in India. So; Normal/ Ordinary Citizens have no idea as to what is required to be done in case of an Emergency during such Operations or about its Details.

Air Ground/Air Sea Rescue is done by Single or Double Lift System. Indian Navy; rescuers adopt Double Lift System with Basket/Liter while Indian Air Force and Indian Army adopt Single Lift System with Strops. A Single Lift Rescue Strop (Harness) tied at the tip of the Winch Cable in Helicopter is lowered to reach the victim. The Strop is required to be secured to/on the Chest of the victim by carrying its Strops over his Shoulder and Neck. Indian Army Para Commando/ Indian Air Force Garud Commando are sent to the victim to make sure that the Strop is worn and fitted properly by/on him. However, during this particular operation; Rescue Mission Leader may not have been able to follow this Procedure to the Hilt. Due to the small size; each Cable Cars at the crash site had the capacity to carry only Four Passengers. All Cable Cars were loaded to Full Capacity. Therefore, there was no place for a Certified Rescuer in Car Cabin to explain to the victims how to wear/hold and handle this Strop System. More ever; due to prolonged non maintenance of this system; Rescue Mission Leader did not receive/have guarantee about Safety Aspect of/Longetivity of this system.

In First Video, when Cable Cars collided, the lady suffered injuries and is seen falling to floor of Cable Car. She later succumbed to injuries in Cable car only. Second Video shows a man reaching the Helicopter and then seen falling down with flaying arms. This video has drawn maximum flaks. When the victim is "Vertically Single Lifted" by the Helicopter; Strop is delivered to him which he has to wear properly, While being lifted, he has to keep his hands at Right Angles to his the Shoulders, stretched side way; so that he does not swing dangerously to cause harm to Winching Operation/Helicopter. If this was followed/done cannot be ascertained from the Video Footage.So it is safe to assume that Strop was comfortably worn and secured. As he reaches near to the Helicopter, the victim is seen to have shifted position of his arms and he stretched them to his front to grab the Floor Board in desperation.
A victim usually makes such gestures in his last ditch effort to save himself at any cost. At the very end of the video, the victim is seen holding the Floor Board with his fingers. When we slither down the Helicopter; "Very Powerful Down Wash of Air” generated by both Rotors and deafening Noise of Engine/Rotors is awesome, unbearable and killing. This is called "Hovering Out of Ground Effect: HOGE". This man might have suffered from this. As such; he was in total panic, exhausted and nervous. Probably he could not bear the draft/sound. His strength seems to have drained/given up at that particular moment and he let go his hold of Floor Board and slipped down/fell towards Ground.

In normal circumstances; by the time the victim reaches the floor board at the end of being pulled by the Winch, the Rescuer grabs him by the scruff of the neck and pulls him into the helicopter. If the victim dose not cooperate; Rescuers catches him with Scissors with his legs, grab him by the scruff of the neck and drags him into Cabin. But this time the Rescuer may not have been able to do so because the victim has grabbed the floor board on his own as soon as he reached the Helicopter. Thereafter; before Rescuer could do/say anything, victim's weakened arm seems to have fallen off the floor board due to the hog effect. At such times life and death would be only a moment or even less than a moment apart. If the Helicopter had Skids or Rescue Steps, the victim could have easily climbed up. But the Air Force does not have such Helicopters.

The 60-year-old woman in the Third Video was not so lucky. It is not clear from the video if her Winch Cable got stuck in the Hook of the Cable Car due to Helicopter swings; whether the Winch Cable was damaged; if so to what extent. It is also not clear if the victim performed unwanted movements while being pulled up so as to loosen her Strop. Or was it that; Rescue Strop was released due to the force exerted by the helicopter to disengage. Or did the Winch Operator use a winch cutter as the Helicopter began to pull dangerously? All of this will be clear in the Inquiry ordered by Indian Air Force and the State Government.

Helicopter evacuation is also required in case of Natural Calamities. Therefore, Helicopter Search and Rescue Operation Training must be provided to all those involved in this work as is being provided in USA, Europe, China and Russia. In India, Helicopter Rescue Training is given by various Military Organizations only to their Soldiers. No one is interested in giving it to concerned Civilians as well. In fact, Helicopter Rescue should be the responsibility of NDRF/NSG/State Rescue Apparatus. But it has been handed over to Defence Services because of still Colonial Mind Set and out dated Administrative Ideology of not wanting Duplication of Rescue Helicopter Resources between the Defence Services and others (NDRF / NSG). Therefore, Babus of Defence/Finance Departments sitting in South Block will not be ready to sanction/ provide Rescue Helicopters to NDRF/NSG in the near future. Helicopter rescue is a very important "Specialist On Call Service" which requires rigorous and continuous training. As incident requiring Helicopter Rescue occurs; Longer the Waiting Time for Helicopter Rescue Team to arrive at the scene, Quicker is the deterioration of mental state of the victims and plummeting of their morale.

It is undeniable that Garud Commandos, ITBP Constables and NDRF Jawans deployed in Devgarh Rope Way accident performed well, to their optimum. Big Risk and Certain Amount of Failure are an integral part of Rescue Mission as n any Operation. There is no doubt that cause of that amount of failure in this Operation will be determined and Lessons Learnt will quickly reach Concerned People. Unfortunately three civilians lost their lives in this Operation, May God Almighty give Peace to departed Souls. But at the same time, it is a Matter of Pride for Retired Soldiers like me that the Commandos/Workers who participated in this Operation succeeded in Rescuing remaining 57 Passengers Alive.My “Kadak Salute" to All Those Brave Hearts.