Pakistani special forces were engaged in a rescue operation on August 22 to aid eight individuals, including six children, who found themselves stranded in a malfunctioning cable car, DW reports.
The cable car, suspended from a lone cable at a height of 274 meters (900 feet) above a ravine in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, faced a critical situation. The incident unfolded while the children were en route to school in the mountainous terrain of Battagram, situated approximately 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of Islamabad.
Shariq Riaz Khattak, a rescue official present at the scene, reported that one child had fainted due to a combination of heat and fear. Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, issued instructions for all available resources to be employed to swiftly complete the rescue operation.
However, the rescue process is intricate due to challenging weather conditions marked by strong winds in the vicinity. Additionally, the operation is fraught with the risk that the helicopter's rotor blades could exacerbate the instability of the cable car. Bilal Faizi, another rescue official, emphasized the high risk associated with the mission, stressing that even a minor miscalculation could lead to further catastrophe. The unfolding rescue drew a tense crowd of onlookers.
Ali Asghar Khan, the headmaster of the government high school Battangi Pashto, disclosed that the stranded children were teenage boys who were students at his school. Khan shared the prevailing anxiety among parents gathered at the chairlift site, awaiting the successful retrieval of their children by rescue personnel.
Initial reports said two children had been rescued via a helicopter before airborne operations needed to be stopped due to darkness.
Chairlifts are frequently used by villagers in the mountainous regions of Pakistan for short-distance travel, yet incidents stemming from poorly maintained chairlifts lead to injuries and fatalities annually. In 2017, an incident occurred in the popular mountain resort of Murree, where a locally installed cable car lift malfunctioned, causing it to plummet into a deep ravine, claiming the lives of 10 individuals.
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