Watch: Pak army races against time to save 8, including 6 kids, trapped in 900 ft-high cable car

After the breakage of cable car wires, eight individuals, including six children were left stranded at the height of 900 feet mid-air in Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province on Tuesday. The incident took place in Allai tehsil in the province's Allai District.

"A chairlift stuck at a height of about 900 ft midway due to breakage in one of its cables in Battagram. 8 persons including 6 children stranded," the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) reportedly said in a statement.

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The incident reportedly took place around 8 am when the schoolchildren were en route to their school. The cable car was privately operated by local residents as a means of transportation across the river. This is because there is an absence of roads or bridges in the region. The cable car came to a halt after the cable car wire broke mid-air.

Trying to spread net under cable car

In order to rescue the stuck people, an army helicopter was dispatched to the scene. "After coordination, Pak Army helicopter has been despatched for the rescue operation," the NDMA statement added. The rescue efforts are currently underway.

The tactic that the army copter is trying to employ is to try and spread nets under the cable car. Allai Assistant Commissioner Jawad Hussain quoted by Dawn media outlet said that the area was surveyed for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, a second military helicopter also arrived at the site.

“If the second helicopter fails to rescue the passengers, Rescue 1122 teams will make efforts from the ground via a snorkel,” the official said, adding, “We have also called locals from Shangla’s Besham who have experience in conducting similar rescue operations near the Diamer Bhasha dam."

One of the passengers inside the stuck cable car, Gulfaraz, spoke to Geo Newsover the phone and said that the problem initially started when the first wire broke at 7 am. Following this, another wire also snapped, he added.

He added that a student suffering from a heart condition has been unconscious for three hours. He was on his way to the hospital when the incident occurred. He confirmed that six of those in the cable car were students aged 10-16 years.

A school teacher, Zafar Iqbal, said that the students were going to the school when the incident struck. “The chairlift is used to go from one place to another. In this area, 150 children come to school by chairlift,” Geo News reported quoting him.

Help sought

The leader of Pakistan Peoples Party leader, Faisal Karim Kundi, has urged caretaker PM Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, interim Chief Minister KP Muhammad Azam Khan and Information Minister Feroze Jamal to urgently deal with the situation and rescue the stuck people.

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