Two children rescued from dangling cable car in Pakistan

AFP

A Pakistani military helicopter on Tuesday rescued two of seven children trapped with their teacher in a cable car dangling over a high ravine, but the air rescue operation was called off as night fell.

Flood lights were installed and a ground-based rescue operation was continuing, a security source said.

The source added that cable crossing experts had been sent to the area and a small dolly carrier was being attached to the cable to rescue the children one by one, more than 12 hours after their cable car snagged.

A cable line snapped at around 7:00 am (0200 GMT) as the students were travelling to school in a remote mountainous area in Battagram, about 200 km (125 miles) north of Islamabad.

Two children have now been rescued, a rescue agency spokesperson and a district official said. No further details were immediately available.

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 has been complicated due to gusty winds in the area and the fact the helicopters' rotor blades risk further destabilising the lift, he said.

"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.

More from International News

  • Hamas accuses Israel of ceasefire breaches before hostage release

    Hamas accused Israel of multiple breaches of their ceasefire agreement on Friday, a day before the scheduled exchange of three more Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners in the latest stage in a fragile deal aimed at ending the war in Gaza.

  • Indian PM Modi to visit US next week

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the United States from February 12 to 13 and hold talks with President Donald Trump, India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said on Friday.

  • Nearly all USAID staff to be laid off: US media

    The Trump administration plans to reduce the number of staff at the US government's giant humanitarian agency USAID to fewer than 300 people from more than 10,000, the New York Times reported.

  • Sweden to tighten gun laws after mass shooting at school

    Sweden's right-wing government said on Friday it would seek to tighten gun laws in the wake of the country's deadliest mass shooting at an adult education centre where the attacker appeared to have used several of his own licensed rifles.

  • Trump imposes sanctions on International Criminal Court

    US President Donald Trump on Thursday authorised economic and travel sanctions targeting people who work on International Criminal Court investigations of US citizens or US allies such as Israel, repeating action he took during his first term.

On Virgin Radio today

  • Adam Eddine

    8:00am - 11:00am

    Playing 10 hits in a row every hour, all weekend!

  • Ryan Seacrest

    11:00am - 2:00pm

    Playing 10 hits in a row every hour, all weekend!

Trending on Virgin Radio