New Delhi, Apr 11 (IANS): At least two people were killed and several injured after two cable cars in a ropeway collided with each other at Trikut hills in Jharkhand's Deoghar district even as the Indian Air Force on Monday rescued 40 tourists.

Acting on the request of the state government, the IAF deployed one Mi-17 and one Mi-17 V5 helicopter early in the morning. The IAF contingent also has a component of IAF Garud Commandos to conduct the operations.

"A recce was conducted by one of the helicopters in the morning and operations are underway in coordination with the district administration and NDRF," Air Force said.

Two people were declared dead and several others injured after two cable cars in a ropeway collided with each other at the Trikut hills close to Baba Baidyanath Temple in Deoghar on Sunday.

"The exact cause of the mishap would be ascertained only after an investigation. The focus currently is on rescuing the people stuck on the ropeway," said sources.

Trikut ropeway is one of the highest vertical ropeways and has a maximum lens angle of 44 degrees. It has been built some 20 km from Baba Baidyanath Temple and is about 766-metres-long. The Trikut hill is 392-metres-high. The ropeway has 25 cabins and each can seat four people.