Nail-biting moments prevailed for nearly three hours at the famed Palani hill shrine on Wednesday morning when 23 devotees, including 11 women and six children (aged 1-14), were trapped inside eight rope cars at a height of 150-200 feet. The devotees were stuck midway after one of the centrally operated cars’ shafts developed a snag.
In a quick-witted response, authorities at the shrine managed to reach the devotees and counselled them to remain calm while they undertook a challenging rescue operation along with Fire and Rescue Services Department personnel.
To ensure that the trapped devotees were not dehydrated, temple staff maintained a steady supply of glucose, biscuits and water, sent up with the help of ropes and rope ladders.
According to temple authorities, the devotees had got into four rope cars at 8 am to reach the shrine from the foothills. Another group of devotees were descending from the shrine to the foothills in four rope cars.
Barely 10 minutes into the journey, the operator of the automatic facility realised that the shaft of one of the cars had developed a snag and power supply was automatically shut off to the cars. Meanwhile, two of the temple’s locally trained staff set off, in a cinematic rescue mode, climbing the ropes with bare hands and reaching the rope cars, as onlookers watched in disbelief. They calmed the devotees and later helped coordinate the rescue along with fire department personnel.