Anwaar ul Haq Kakar, Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister, made the announcement on X (formerly known as Twitter) about the operation’s success.
Six children and two adults were suspended inside a cable car dangling over a deep valley in Pakistan for several hours on August 22, 2023.PRATEEK KUMAR/AFP via Getty Images
PRATEEK KUMAR/AFP via Getty Images
The group was en route to school around 9 a.m. local time in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, when one of the cable car’s cables broke and left them stranded up in the air, per CNN, in an ordeal that lasted about 14 hours.
Army helicopters were involved in the rescue operation, and video footage showed a chopper hovering above the cable car to send food and water to the stranded passengers via a commando sliding down a rope,The New York Timesreported.
A rescue operation was mounted in Pakistan to rescue eight people trapped in a chairlift on Aug. 22, 2023.FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP via Getty Images
FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP via Getty Images
High winds hampered the air rescue effort at one point, which forced the rescuers to use the one remaining working cable as a zipline from which they retrieved three children,The Guardianreported.
Footage also appeared to show a child hanging from the end of a rope attached to a helicopter as it flew to safety, per CNN.
Prior to the rescue, a 20-year-old passenger identified as Gulfaraz told Pakistan news outletGeo Newsvia phone that both cables broke, with the first cable breaking after the cable car crossed one mile. Gulfaraz urged authorities to help them as “people in our area are standing here and crying.” He said another passenger, a 16-year-old with a heart condition, had been unconscious for three hours.
The six children, according to Gulfaraz, ranged in age from 10 to 16, per Geo News.
“The school is located in a mountainous area and there are no safe crossings, so it’s common to use the chairlift,” according to headmaster Ali Asghar Khan, who said the children are students at his government high school Battangi Pashto, viaAFP.
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In an earlier tweet, Kakar wrote that he “directed the authorities to conduct safety inspections of all such private cable car and ensure that they are safe to operate and use.”
Sarfraz Bugti, the country’s interior minister, alsotweetedhis response to the news of the rescue: “Thankful to Allah that the rescue process at Battagram has successfully concluded. All appreciation for our valiant armed forces personnel, administration & locals for their selflessness and determination in carrying out this complex operation.”
source: people.com
