Cable cars connect remote, mountainous regions of Pakistan. Image: Durray Sameen Rajouri, via Wikimedia Commons
Eight people, including six school students, have been rescued after being stranded for approximately 16 hours in a cable car dangling above a steep ravine in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
The students, aged 10 to 16, were on their way to school in Battagram on Tuesday morning, a route which requires them to use the cable car to cross the steep terrain, at heights of almost 300m above the valley floor.
Intense winds damaged the cable line, leaving the car stalled and hanging by a single line.
Rescue was initially attempted by helicopter, where the continued strong winds hampered rescue efforts.
Two children were the first to be rescued by helicopter, however, further attempts at helicopter rescue were halted for fears of breaking the single cable holding the other passengers.
“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,” the chairman of the Allai valley area said to news outlets.
“What can they do?”
Supplies such as food, water and medicine were able to be delivered to the stranded group, but it was reported that one of the children had passed out due to heat exhaustion and fear.
As night fell with six passengers still stranded, floodlights were installed on the ground, and zipline experts were brought in to cross the cable and rescue the passengers individually.
“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,” said Abdul Nasir Khan, a resident local.
After a long night and the continued support of locals, all of the passengers were rescued and brought to safety, with the two adults being the last to be recovered from the suspended car.
Cable car systems across the region allow locals to cross easily from one mountain to another, reducing hours-long journeys to just a few minutes via cable lines.
However, cable car systems are often built and operated by local residents, which may account for variations in the safety and upkeep of the lift systems.
Going forward, Anwaar ul Haq Kakar, Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister, said on X (formerly Twitter) that he has “directed the authorities to conduct safety inspections of all such private chairlifts and ensure that they are safe to operate and use.”
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