Cable car horror leaves children trapped 900ft above the ground after wire snaps above Pakistan valley

Among the eight people, six children were trapped in a cable car dangling above a deep valley in Pakistan on Tuesday, officials said.

The children – who have been stranded since about 06:00 local time (01:00 GMT) – used the chairlift to cross the valley to school in a mountainous area in Battagram, about 200 kilometers north of Islamabad.

The cable then suddenly broke midway through its journey in a remote mountainous area at an altitude of up to 1200 feet (about 365 meters).

Syed Hammad Haider, a senior Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provincial official, said the ropeway was about 300 to 400 meters above the ground.

“We have asked the KP government to provide a helicopter because the relief effort is not possible without the help of a helicopter,” he said.

The National Disaster Management Agency said in a statement that six children and two adults were on board at an altitude of at least 300 metres, and the Pakistani military had been asked to carry out a helicopter rescue mission.

It said an army helicopter had been moved to the area for a rescue operation after attempts to clear the disturbance were unsuccessful.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar has said all “decrepit and non-compliant chairlifts” should close immediately, according to a statement from his office.

Many children living in remote and mountainous parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province depend on cable cars to travel to and from school and back.

However, some chairlifts do not have regular maintenance, which means they can be a risky form of travel.