Near Parwanoo, 35 km from Chandigarh on the Shimla highway lay a mountain resort by the name Timber Trail standing at a height of about 2,000 ft.
The main attraction at the resort is the ride in a cable car to a hotel, Timber Heights at 5,000 ft (3,000 ft above the Trail) on a mountain top 1.8 km away. It takes approx. 8 minutes for the cable car to cover the 1.8 km distance and reach the mountain top.
But the excitement of the 10 passengers on car ‘B’ came to a halt when it all happened in a flash. They all hurled against the cable car when its cable broke loose. As the trolley accelerated to about 280 kmph, the overhead pulley wheels gave way, emitting fumes and fire. The frightened passengers, including a four-and-a-half-year-old child, were tossed around. And then, with a jerk, the car swung wildly before coming to a stop.
The 7-ft high hexagon-shaped car would have smashed the base to smithereens. But it got suspended in mid-air. Beneath was a clean drop of over 3,000 ft into the rocky Kaushalya rivulet.
The car included a family of 4 and 3 couples including a newly-wed one. That whole night, the 10 tourists remained suspended between life and death.
Meanwhile, at 6 p.m., the hotel management approached the army brigade at Kasauli, 30 km away, for help. The army immediately swung into action. By late evening, the 152-helicopter unit based at Sarsawa in Uttar Pradesh had been alerted, so too the 1 para commando unit at Nahan, Himachal Pradesh. Meanwhile, the engineers’ unit at Chandimandir assessed the ground realities at the cable car site.
The MoD conveyed its sanction on the telephone the next morning. A Cheetah helicopter from Sarsawa reached at 8.30, while a para-commando, Maj Ivan Joseph Crasto arrived from Nahan.
Gp Capt Fali Homi Major and his unit got the message about the evacuation operation late in evening on October 13. The instructions were to mount rescue operations from Chandi Mandir the following day at 7 am. The Mi-17 V5 choppers could not be airborne till 8.16 am as there was a fog in the area. It was all Visual Flight Rules. Just FYI, here’s how a Mi-17 V5 chopper looks like this:
Out of the three techniques shortlisted, the best one chosen was to lower the commando into the trolley and then winch the trapped persons up by a helicopter.
Group Captain F.H. Major in a Cheetah, along with his crew and the commandos, conducted a reconnaissance of the area from 11 a.m. onwards. First Cheetahs and Chetaks were tried and later Mi-17 was brought in because of their larger winching units. The young ace flyer, Ft Lt P Upadhyay with Group Captain Fali Homi Major in 1992, carried out the sortie turn by turn. He flew the maximum sorties himself allowing Major Crasto to slither down 110 ft or more to land in the stranded cable car. This was the scenethen:
The 28-year-old Crasto, who had done a training stint in the Soviet Union, had just returned from Goa after attending his mother’s funeral. His arrival immediately raised hopes of the rescue operation succeeding. But the rescue operation was delayed due to the danger to the helicopter’s rotors from the other rope track running parallel. Tools to lower the rope track were not available.
With this, five of the 10 persons had been lifted out.
The five who remained in the trolley were crestfallen. Crasto volunteered to stay in the cable car to boost their spirits. “I have two kids at home and the fact that I am staying on means there is nothing to worry,” he comforted them.
The next morning-October 15- after the first sortie, another Mi-17 had to be requisitioned due to a mechanical fault. By 10 a.m. the daring Operation Timber Trail was over with the gutsy Crasto being the last to be winched up.
Flight Lieutenant P Upadhyay said with relief: “It was the toughest rescue operation I’ve carried out. The wires were so close to the chopper.” Major Ivan Joseph Crasto (later Colonel, retd), the hero of ‘Timber Trail Rescue’, was awarded the Kirti Chakra and Group Capt. (later Air Chief Marshal) F.H. Major of the 152 Helicopter Unit (HU), IAF the Shaurya Chakra and Ft Lt P Upadhyay was awarded the Vayu Sena Medal.
This operation is very much unique in its own where a Hindu lady in the car, praying to her Hindu god was saved by a Christian para commando (Maj Ivan Joseph Crasto) into a chopper flown by a Parsi pilot (Gp Capt FH Major). This is India and Indian Military for you, peeps.
Story Sourced From News Reports
