PESHAWAR/ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Seven students and one teacher are trapped in a cable car dangling high above a ravine in Pakistan on Tuesday after a line snapped, with authorities racing against fading light in an "extremely dangerous" rescue operation hampered by high winds. The students have been stuck in the cable car since 7 a.m. (0200 GMT) when they were travelling to school in a remote mountainous area in Battagram, about 200 km (125 miles) north of Islamabad, officials said. Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority said in a statement that a cable had broken in the lift service and two army helicopters had been dispatched for a rescue operation after attempts at fixing the fault had been unsuccessful.
The cable car became stranded half way across a ravine, about 274 metres (900 feet) above ground, and was dangling by a single cable after the other snapped, Shariq Riaz Khattak a rescue official at the site told Reuters. The rescue mission is complicated due to gusty winds in the area and the fact the helicopters' rotor blades risk further destabilising the lift, he said. The military helicopters are both hovering near the stranded cable car and so far two attempts at a rescue have been aborted. A third will be launched shortly, he said, adding that a cable 30 feet above the cable car is impeding the operation. Commandos hanging from a helicopter had managed to get close to the car, but were unable to rescue those on board.
They did manage to deliver food and medicine. A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said after a final attempt by helicopter, efforts were likely to shift to the ground, as darkness and weather conditions are increasing risks, and the cable car begins shaking as the chopper approaches. "They are trying to remove people through harness now ... The operation will continue in the dark too," the official added, with sunset expected about 7 p.m. "Our situation is precarious, for god's sake do something," Gulfaraz, a 20-year-old who is on the cable car, told local television channel Geo News over the phone, appealing to authorities to rescue them as soon as possible. He said the other students are aged between 10 and 15 and one had fainted due to heat and fear. The rescue efforts have transfixed the country, with Pakistanis crowded around television sets, as local media showed footage of an emergency worker dangling from a helicopter cable close to the small cabin, with those onboard seen cramped together. At the scene, crowds of villagers gathered on the vertiginous hillside anxiously watching the operation.
Muzaffar Khan, a district administration official in Battagram, said there were seven students and one teacher aboard, updating from the earlier reported six students and two teachers. The security official said special services troops, trained in sling operations, are involved in this "extremely dangerous and risky operation". Sling operations are aerial operations where large loads are moved in geographically tough terrains. Bilal Fiazi, a spokesperson for the 1122 rescue service, said the terrain on the ground is difficult, given the high peaks and a river flowing through the valley. People who live in the northern mountainous regions of Pakistan often use cable cars for transport from one village to another. Abdul Nasir Khan, a local resident, said the children were going to a high school in Batangai in Allai. "We are helplessly looking at them but can’t help," Khan said. Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar expressed concern in a post on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter. "I have also directed the authorities to conduct safety inspections of all such private chair lifts and ensure that they are safe to operate and use," he said in a post.
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