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Seven killed in Kashmir cable car accident

Four Indian tourists and three local residents died when gusty winds in the area uprooted a huge pine tree that hit the cable of the coach.

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Four Indian tourists and three local residents died when a cable car crashed down from a height of 30 metres in a tourist town in the Indian part of Kashmir.

Four other people were injured in the accident in the resort town of Gulmarg, said senior police officer Imtiyaz Hussain. One of the injured was in a critical condition.

Mr Hussain said gusty winds in the area uprooted a huge pine tree that hit the cable of the coach, bringing it down to the ground.

Indian tourists
Indian tourists walk back after they were rescued from a cable car in Gulmarg, north west of Srinagar (Dar Yasin/AP)

The dead included a New Delhi couple and their two children. The three local residents who died included two tourist guides.

Authorities have restored the cable and rescued around 100 people who were stranded in cable cars. They were also scouring the nearby forest for any tourists who may have fallen there.

The accident was the first since the cable cars were installed 18 years ago, Mr Hussain said.

The cable cars carry tourists in the Pirpanjal mountain range in the western Himalayas. Gulmarg is a popular skiing destination for both Indian and foreign tourists, though the accident happened during the summer tourist season.

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