Pakistan: Children trapped mid-air in broken cable car

Pakistani special forces were attempting to rescue eight people, including six children, who were stranded in a broken cable on Tuesday.

The cable car was dangling from a single cable 900 feet (274 meters) over a ravine in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The incident happened as the children were on their way to school in a mountainous area in Battagram, about 124 miles (200 kilometers) north of Islamabad.

“One child has fainted due to heat and fear,” said Shariq Riaz Khattak, a rescue official on the scene.

Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar ordered authorities to utilize all resources to complete the rescue operation as soon as possible.

Complex helicopter rescue underway

The rescue mission is complicated due to strong winds in the area, as well as the risk that the helicopter’s rotor blades could further destabilize the lift.

“One child has fainted due to heat and fear,” said Shariq Riaz Khattak, a rescue official on the scene.

“It is going to be a highly risky mission. A slight miscalculation can result in a further disaster,” rescue official Bilal Faizi said.

Nervous crowds watching the rescue operation

Headmaster Ali Asghar Khan told the AFP news agency that the children were teenage boys and students of his government high school Battangi Pashto.

“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,” he added.

Many villagers in Pakistan’s mountainous regions use chairlifts to travel shorter distances, but poorly maintained chairlifts cause injuries and fatalities each year.

In 2017, a cable car lift installed by local villagers in the popular mountain resort of Murree broke and fell into a ravine hundreds of feet deep, killing ten people.