Two workers were killed and four others were injured on Sunday after a cable car of the Jammu ropeway project where work is going on crashed during a mock rescue drill, days before it was likely to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, officials said.
The crash took place due to some technical snag near Mahamaya temple, a police officer said.
The executing agency was conducting a mock rescue drill and due to imbalance, one of the trolleys carrying six workers fell down.
One of them, 45-year-old Rakesh Kumar from Bihar, died on the spot. The rest five - Hari Krishan (45), Manjeet Singh (32) and Lovely of West Bengal, Ravinder (30) of Uttar Pradesh, and Engineer Balkirat Singh (32) of Jammu and Kashmir - were rushed to Government Medical College hospital where Mr Krishan died, they said.
Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik ordered a magisterial inquiry into the accident and announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs 5 lakh to family of those who died. He also directed the divisional administration to provide free medical treatment to the injured, an official spokesman said.
On the instructions of the Governor, advisor Khurshid Ahmed Ganai and Chief Secretary BVR Subramanyam visited the injured people at the hospital late on Sunday. The Chief Secretary also visited the accident site, the spokesman said.
The Jammu ropeway project, planned to boost tourism, is likely to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 3.
The 1.66-km-long cable car project has two phases, first from Bahu Fort to Mahamaya Park and second from Mahamaya to Peer Kho over the Tawi river, with a total length of 1,118 metres.
National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and vice-president Omar Abdullah expressed grief over the deaths, describing them as most "tragic and unfortunate".
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