Pakistan army rushes to rescue children trapped in cable car over ravine

 Six children and two teachers are trapped in a gondola dangling 274 metres (900ft) above a ravine in Pakistan after a cable had snapped, and high winds are hampering an “extremely risky” helicopter rescue mission, officials say.

The children, who have been stranded since 7am (02:00 GMT), were using the gondola to get to school in a mountainous area in Battagram, about 200km (125 miles) north of Islamabad, officials said. The National Disaster Management Authority said in a statement that a cable had broken in the lift service and two army helicopters had been dispatched for a rescue operation after attempts at fixing the fault had been unsuccessful.

 

After a 14-hour ordeal, all eight people, including six children and two adults, who were stranded on a cable car dangling hundreds of feet over a valley in northwest Pakistan have been rescued, the country’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar said in a statement.

“Relieved to know that Alhamdolillah all the kids have been successfully and safely rescued. Great team work by the military, rescue departments, district administration as well as the local people,” he said in the statement posted on X, formerly called Twitter.