Pakistani officials were scrambling a rescue effort on Tuesday after seven schoolchildren and an adult were left hanging dangerously for hours in a cable car at an altitude of 6,500 feet after two of its cables broke.
The breakage happened around 8:30 a.m. in Allai, in the Battagram district of Khyber-Pakhthunkwa Province. The cable car, which travels over a stream, is a regular mode of transport for residents of the mountainous northern region, and the children, ages 10 to 12, were en route to a nearby school.
As panic gripped the passengers and their families, they issued urgent pleas for assistance. The authorities sent an army helicopter to the site, and video on local television showed it hovering above the cable car at some distance as a commando slid down a rope and delivered food and water.
But as the helicopter tried to get closer to the cable car, the car seemed to begin shaking heavily, which appeared to make an air rescue difficult.
Before the commando delivered the supplies, one of the passengers told a local TV news network that he and the others had been stuck for more than six hours without food or water. He said that one child with a heart condition had fainted after panicking. “My mobile phone battery is depleting fast,” he said.
The cause of the cable breakage, which appeared to leave only one cable intact, was unclear. Anwaar-ul Haq Kakar, the country’s interim prime minister, called the cable car accident “alarming” as he ordered the rescue operation.
Mr. Kakar instructed the authorities to carry out safety inspections on all private mountain lifts to ensure their safety, according to a statement from his office.
This is a developing story.
