SRINAGAR (India) • A pine tree fell onto a cable car at a ski resort in Indian Kashmir yesterday, sending the car plunging to earth and killing seven people, most of them tourists, police said.

About 150 people were stranded in other cable cars on the mountain in Gulmarg in high winds, but were later rescued. Gulmarg is a winter ski destination but also popular during the summer season. The gondola lift at Gulmarg claims to be the world's highest, ferrying passengers to a height of 4,100m for panoramic views of the snow-clad Himalayas.

Police superintendent Imtiyaz Hussain said seven people were killed in the accident. "We are combing the forest area below the cable line to see if there are any more bodies," Mr Hussain told AFP.

Another police officer said a couple, two children and a local guide were among the dead.

Gulmarg is the only ski resort in the restive Kashmir region. Visitor numbers have dipped in recent years amid unrest in the strife-torn region, with violence rising since the death of a popular militant leader last year.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947 but both claim the territory in its entirety.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE