The kids were using the chair lift to get to school in a mountainous area in Battagram, about 200km north of Islamabad
Seven students and one teacher are trapped in a cable car dangling high above a ravine in Pakistan on Tuesday after a line snapped, with authorities racing against fading light in an “extremely dangerous” rescue operation hampered by high winds.
The students have been stuck in the cable car since 7am (0200 GMT) when they were travelling to school in a remote mountainous area in Battagram, about 200 km (125 miles) north of Islamabad, officials said.
Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority said in a statement that a cable had broken in the lift service and two army helicopters had been dispatched for a rescue operation after attempts at fixing the fault had been unsuccessful.
The cable car became stranded half way across a ravine, about 274 metres (900 feet) above ground, and was dangling by a single cable after the other snapped, Shariq Riaz Khattak a rescue official at the site told Reuters.
The rescue mission is complicated due to gusty winds in the area and the fact the helicopters’ rotor blades risk further destabilising the lift, he said.
The military helicopters are both hovering near the stranded cable car and so far two attempts at a rescue have been aborted. A third will be launched shortly, he said, adding that a cable 30 feet above the cable car is impeding the operation.
Commandos hanging from a helicopter had managed to get close to the car, but were unable to rescue those on board, with sundown expected at about 7pm.
Muzaffar Khan, a district administration official in Battagram, said there were seven students and one teacher aboard, updating from the earlier reported six students and two teachers.
“Strong winds are hitting us,” Gulfaraz, a 20-year-old who is on the cable car, told local television channel Geo News over the phone, appealing to authorities to rescue them as soon as possible. He said the other students are aged between 10 and 15 and one had fainted due to heat and fear.
One security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said special services troops, trained in sling operations, are involved in this “extremely dangerous and risky operation”.
Sling operations are aerial operations where large loads are moved in geographically difficult terrains.
“All efforts are being made by Pakistan army to rescue the stranded people in the lift,” he said.
Bilal Fiazi, a spokesperson for the 1122 rescue service, said the commandos had managed to get food and medicine to them.
“The terrain below is difficult given the peaks and the river flowing underneath in the valley,” he added.
People who live in the northern mountainous regions of Pakistan often use cable cars for transport from one village to another.
Villagers lined the vertiginous slopes of the valley anxiously watching the operation.
Abdul Nasir Khan, a local resident, said the children were going to a high school in Batangai in Allai.
“We are helplessly looking at them but can’t help,” Khan said.
Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar expressed concern in a post on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
“I have also directed the authorities to conduct safety inspections of all such private chair lifts and ensure that they are safe to operate and use”
Anwaar ul Haq Kakar, Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan
