How safe are ziplines? From Italy to Pakistan, recent cable car accidents are cause for concern
On the night of Tuesday, August 23, 2023, Pakistan breathed a sigh of relief after all children trapped in a broken cable car suspended 300 meters in the air were brought to safety, marking the end of an intense 16-hour rescue operation. .
The gondola had been carrying six youths and two adults, believed to be teachers, to their school in the remote mountain area of Battagram, 200 kilometers north of Islamabad, when one of the cables broke.
It led to a frantic helicopter mission that lasted much of the day, with the students, aged between 11 and 15, and their companions retreating one by one.
But are ziplines safe to use? Are cable car accidents common in other parts of the world?
Read below everything you need to know about cable car safety.
Prior to the incident in Pakistan on August 22, no problems had been reported with the cable cars, as locals considered them the best way to get around the region. Pictured: A cable car with eight people on board dangles hundreds of meters above the ground, in the village of Pashto, a mountainous area in Battagram district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on Tuesday, August 22, 2023
How safe are ziplines?
Prior to the incident in Pakistan on August 22, no problems had been reported with the cable cars, as locals considered them the best way to get around the region.
Mohabbat Shah, who lives in the area, said locals are willing to risk the dangerous journey as they don’t have many other ways to travel to important services.
He told the BBC: ‘We only pay 10 rupees per person for a one-way ticket. If we book a taxi it will cost up to 2000 rupees (£18.91).’
The safety of cable cars has been proven by the lack of incidents in similar infrastructure around the world.
Since opening in June 2012, the London cable car has had only one significant incident.
A month after its opening, passengers in the cable car were suspended 90 meters in the air after a technical malfunction in the alarm system. There were no reports of injuries.
How common are cable car accidents around the world?
While the cable car that broke down in Pakistan on August 22 has not had any problems before, others in different parts of the country have.
In 2017 in Muree, Punjab, an illegal car crashed and fell into a ravine. The crash killed 11 people.
In December 2022 in Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 12 children had to be rescued on their way to school when a rope broke. They were also stranded over a river while waiting to be rescued.
Since opening in June 2012, the London cable car has had only one significant incident. A month after its opening, passengers in the cable car were suspended 90 meters in the air after a technical malfunction in the alarm system. There were no reports of injuries. Pictured: The cable car from London to Greenwich Peninsula
Following the Battagram incident on August 23, Anwaar ul Haq Kakar, the acting Prime Minister of Pakistan, called for safety inspections of all home-made cable cars.
In May 2021, 14 people died in northern Italy after a horror accident in which a cable car on a mountain top plunged 20 meters to the ground.
The funicular was carrying passengers to the top of the Stresa-Mottarone line in the Piedmont region of the western Alps when it fell just 300 meters away from the station.
The Mottarone cable car was opened in 1970. It reaches an altitude of 1,400 meters and takes tourists from the town of Stresa to the top of the mountain in 20 minutes.