DEOGHAR: The
ropeway accident on Trikut Hill
on Ram Navami that claimed three lives and injured over two dozen people has triggered tourism of a different kind unlike mythological and adventure with many people turning up at the site to watch the rescue operations unfold.
Hordes of people came from Handiha village where the hill is located but a large number of people from other parts of Deoghar and some from other districts too arrived at the spot. A few families from Bihar and West Bengal also reached and camped near the foothills till the rescue operation was over.
A senior official of the Indian Army said that the locals extended helping hand in the rescue operations. "Though we are trained and equipped to handle crisis situation but at times, knowledge of local topography and indigenous ways to handle emergency situation are more effective," he said pointing to a group of local youths who played a major role in assisting the rescuers.
While Pannalal, a local employed by Damodar Ropeway Infra Limited as a rescuer, had helped evacuate as many as 11 people from the hanging cable cars, he was assisted by another villager Pappu Singh who arrived initially just as an onlooker. Pannalal was honoured with a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh by Deoghar DC Manju Nath Bhajantri on Wednesday.
A few other locals arranged food, water and tea for those engaged in rescue operations or the family members of those waiting anxiously at the foothills for their loved ones to return.
However, there were few who came to the venue out of curiosity or to witness one of the biggest rescue operations in the state. Shobha Gupta of Sitamarhi in Bihar came to
Trikut Hill
with family members comprising children and a few friends in a car just to watch the rescue operations. "We had visited this ropeway last year. When we saw the video clips on mobile, we actually wanted to see for ourselves how tragedy struck," she said.
Another family from West Bengal reached Deoghar and thereafter hired an autorickshaw to reach the hill. There was mass congregation at three places - foothill of Trikut Hill where 2,000-3000 people remained all through the rescue operations, the temporary helipad where rescue choppers were bringing the victims and ambulances were parked to take them to hospital and a few more at the Sadar Hospital.
Deoghar police had to struggle to keep the onlookers away from disrupting the overall operations. One of the NDRF offcials sought cooperation of the local police in keeping the route from helipad to hospital clear from crowds while another group was stationed at the foothills for crowd control
Senior consultant psychiatric at Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry & Allied Sciences, Dr Siddhartha Sinha, said the gathering cannot be categorised as dark tourism as the sight was not horrific. "There was no blood or mutilated bodies. Instead people gathered to witness the positive aspect of a heroic act by commanders and their rescue ops," he said.
Sinha, however, pointed that the rescued people might experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and should be offered psychiatric counselling.
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