All seven children who were trapped inside a broken-down Pakistan cable car dangling dangerously 1,200ft above a ravine have been rescued, it has been reported.
The children pulled out to safety today after they became stranded with their teacher in the cart dangling 1,200ft above a deep valley in a remote mountainous area in Battagram, 125 miles north of Islamabad.
The youngsters, aged between 10 and 15, had been travelling to school in the remote region, 120 miles north of Islamabad, with their teacher, when the line snapped at around 7am on Tuesday morning.
Footage had shown the cable car perilously dangling over the deep valley, while another video showed the tense moment a rescuer suspended from a helicopter was lowered to the car dangling by a single cable. Strapped in the harness, the child was carried to the ground.
The successful rescue mission, confirmed by Pakistan’s interior minister, comes less than an hour after the helicopter operation was suspended due to high winds and nightfall.
This is the incredible moment military commandoes rescue school children stranded in a broken-down cable car dangling 1,200ft above a deep valley in Pakistan
Several military helicopters flew reconnaissance sorties and an airman was lowered by harness to deliver food, water and medicine
Members of Pakistan’s military were deployed with helicopters to rescue the children one by one.
‘Three more children have been rescued in Pakistan army’s rescue operation,’ the military said after the helicopter had been withdrawn.
More footage showed more than a dozen rescuers and locals lined near the edge of the dark ravine, pulling on a cable until a boy was attached to it by a harness, while people cried ‘God is great’.
Local residents said community members from surrounding areas who had experience rescuing people this way had also arrived.
‘It is a slow and risky operation. One person needs to tie himself with a rope and he will go in a small chairlift and rescue them one by one,’ Abdul Nasir Khan, a nearby resident, said earlier today.
Talaat Masood, a retired Pakistan army general told the BBC that using the cable car to save the trapped children would be ‘a lesser challenge’ than using the helicopter at night.
An army soldier slings down from a helicopter during a rescue mission to recover the students stuck in the cable car
Following the incident, Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar issued a directive for all cable cars in mountainous areas to be inspected and for those that are not ‘safety compliant’ to be immediately closed
The cable car appeared to be tipping on its side after the wire of the vehicle snapped
The gondola broke down at around 7:00 am local time, with residents using mosque loudspeakers to alert neighbourhood officials across the Allai valley.
The horrifying incident took place early this morning when the children were using the cable car to get to school.
The cable car dramatically broke at a height of 1,200ft midway through its journey in a remote, mountainous part of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The rescue mission has been complicated due to gusty winds in the area and the fact the helicopters’ rotor blades risk further destabilising the lift, he said.
‘Our situation is precarious, for god’s sake do something,’ Gulfaraz, a 20-year-old 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 children were aged between 10 and 15 and one had fainted due to heat and fear.
Before conducting the rescue attempt, several military helicopters flew reconnaissance sorties and an airman was lowered by harness to deliver food, water and medicine, Tanveer Ur Rehman, a local government official, told AFP.
‘This is a delicate operation that demands meticulous accuracy. The helicopter can not approach the chairlift closely, as its downwash (air pressure) might snap the sole chain supporting it,’ he said.
Anxious crowds gathered on both sides of the ravine, which is several hours from any sizeable town.
‘Every time the helicopter lowered the rescuer closer to the chairlift, the wind from the helicopter would shake and disbalance the chairlift making the children scream in fear,’ Ghulamullah, chairman of the Allai valley area, told Geo News.
The cable car broke down at around 7am local time, with residents using mosque loudspeakers to alert neighbourhood officials across the Allai valley.
Headmaster Ali Asghar Khan told AFP by phone that the children were teenage boys and students at his government high school Battangi Pashto.
‘The school is located in a mountainous area and there are no safe crossings, so it’s common to use the chairlift,’ Khan said.
‘The parents are gathered at the site of the chairlift. What can they do? They are waiting for the rescue officials to get their children out. We are all worried.’
Abid Ur Rehman, a teacher from another school in the area, said around 500 people had gathered to watch the rescue mission.
‘Parents and women are crying for the safety of their children,’ he told AFP.
Syed Hammad Haider, a senior Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial official, said the gondola was hanging 1,200 feet above the ground
Cable cars that carry passengers and sometimes cars are common across the northern areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Gilgit-Baltistan, and are vital in connecting villages and towns in areas where roads cannot be built.
Syed Hammad Haider, a senior Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial official, said the gondola was hanging 1,200 feet above the ground.
Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar issued a directive for all cable cars in mountainous areas to be inspected and for those that are not ‘safety compliant’ to be immediately closed.
The rescue effort has transfixed the country, with Pakistanis crowded around television sets, as local media showed footage of an emergency worker dangling from a helicopter cable close to the small cabin, with those onboard cramped together.
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.
Cable cars that carry passengers and sometimes cars are common across the northern areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Gilgit-Baltistan, and are vital in connecting villages and towns in areas where roads cannot be built.
In 2017, 10 people were killed when a chairlift cable broke, sending passengers plunging into a ravine in a mountain hamlet near capital Islamabad.