The collision on Sunday left almost 50 passengers trapped and dangling above the ground, with some of those on board forced to wait until Tuesday before being lifted to safety by military rescuers.

One person died as a direct result of the collision on the pilgrim cableway, but two tourists - a man and a woman fell to their deaths on Monday and Tuesday respectively, officials in Jharkhand state's Deoghar district said.

"Of the remaining 15 people trapped in cable cars, 14 have been rescued while a woman fell off the chopper during the course of the rescue operation," police chief RK Mallick told The Times of India.

Most of the passengers in the dangling cars were rescued on Monday but three were not lifted to safety until Tuesday, said Subhash Chandra Jat, another police chief of Deoghar where the incident occurred in remote hilly territory.

The cars collided when one of them became partly dislodged from its cable, Mr Jat said.

Neither car fell to the ground, but both became immobilised.

The cableway takes pilgrims to the top of a hill called Trikut, which Hindus consider holy.

According to local tourist chiefs. the ropeway is the highest in India - at just under 1,300ft - and more than 2,500ft long.