The Pakistan Army's Quick Response Force has been called in to rescue six school children and two others trapped inside a cable car after two of its wires snapped in a deep valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Battagram district.
The children were using the chairlift at a height of up to 1,200 feet (about 365 meters) to cross the valley on Tuesday morning when the incident occurred.
According to Allai Assistant Commissioner Jawad Hussain, a military helicopter is also surveying.
The rescue team told Pakistani media that they couldn't carry out a relief operation due to the height and the hilly terrain. They have requested a helicopter to rescue passengers from the provincial chief secretary
Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has instructed that the safety arrangements on all such chairlifts in the hilly areas be ensured and asked authorities to immediately close the chairlifts that are in a dilapidated condition or do not meet the required safety standards, Radio Pakistan reported.