On Tuesday, six children and two adults were stranded aboard a cable car suspended above a deep Pakistani valley, while a military chopper hovered nearby.
The children were riding the chairlift to cross the valley to get to school when a cable snapped halfway through its route in a remote, hilly part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“For God’s sake help us”, Gulfraz, a guy trapped in the cable car, said over the phone to Pakistani media, confirming that eight people were on board.
“It has been nearly five hours since we are stuck mid-air. The situation is so bad that one man has already fainted. A helicopter arrived, but left without conducting any operations”, he added.
The tragedy occurred around 7:00 am local time, and citizens across the valley used mosque loudspeakers to inform neighborhood officials.
“The cable car is suspended by a single rope. There are a minimum of eight occupants primarily consisting of schoolchildren”, said Abdul Basit Khan, a senior official for the provincial rescue agency.
According to footage seen on local news, the group had been suspended in the air for more than four hours when a Pakistan Army helicopter arrived on the site.
“The cable car is stuck in a place where it is almost impossible to help without a helicopter”, Zulfiqar Khan, a member of Pakistan’s 1122 rescue service, explained.
The rope is suspended by spectacular mountains, where cable cars are commonly utilized to connect rural villages and towns.
According to the National Disaster Management Agency, six children and two adults were aboard at a height of at least 900 feet.
Syed Hammad Haider, a senior Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provincial official, stated that the cable car is 1,000 to 1,200 feet above the ground.
“We have requested the KP government to provide a helicopter because the relief activity is not possible without the help of a helicopter”, Mr. Haider added.
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