A group of adults and children were stuck in a cable car dangling 900 feet over a mountainous region in Pakistan on Tuesday. A cable broke loose from the car while six children 10 to 16 years old and two adults traveled to their school. Crews worked to rescue them for hours, but aerial efforts were suspended as night fell.
Several news outlets reported that the group had been suspended above the mountains for more than 10 hours. So far, five of the children have been rescued, and emergency responders are working to free the remaining trapped passengers.
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The cable car functioned normally earlier on Tuesday.
Tanveer Ur Rehman, deputy commissioner of the Battagram district, said the group was going to school in the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when the cable snapped around 8:30 a.m. local time, according to CNN. The lift took several trips that morning before the malfunction, he added.
The BBC reported that the chairlift ride only took about four minutes to cross the ravine. When residents realized the cable car was in trouble, they attempted to alert officials with loudspeakers.
Dawn reported via the BBC that it took at least four hours for a helicopter to arrive. A teacher told the news outlet that approximately 150 people take the cable car daily because of the area's mountainous terrain.
The rescue mission has been challenging.
The area is experiencing gusty winds that have made a rescue complicated, according to NBC News. It reported that Shariq Riaz Khattak, a rescue official at the site, told Reuters the cable snapped about halfway to its destination above a ravine. The situation has drawn crowds overseeing rescuers' attempts to remove the stranded passengers.
Passengers are frightened.
NBC News reported that a student spoke to Geo News, a local TV channel, via a phone call onboard. He begged for help and noted that some passengers had fainted because of the heat onboard and fear.
"Our situation is precarious, for god's sake do something," Gulfaraz, a 20-year-old who is on the cable car, told Geo News.
Emergency personnel tried to treat those onboard who were feeling unwell. Because of the extreme circumstances in the cable car, some passengers have reportedly been vomiting. According to CNN, they have been given nausea medication. Ur Rehman added that heart medication had been administered to some passengers.
The cable cars are reportedly known to be dangerous.
Many children rely on chairlifts to take them to school because they live in more remote and mountainous areas, CNN reported. Some of the cable cars, however, do not receive proper maintenance and can be a risky form of travel. Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar reportedly ordered all "dilapidated and non-compliant chairlifts" to close immediately.
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As night falls, the situation becomes more challenging.
It is currently dark in Pakistan, which will undoubtedly make things more complicated, per the BBC. Winds are expected to remain gusty, and temperatures throughout Tuesday and Wednesday will remain hot. The prime minister tweeted that he is pleased with rescue efforts so far.
"I'm closely monitoring and tracking the rescue efforts in Batgram, KP. I am happy that progress is being made, and thanks to the efforts of our army personnel, Air Force, rescue organizations, district administration and others, students stuck in the chairlift have started returning to the ground safely. I'll keep monitoring closely till the completion of the rescue operation, insha Allah," he wrote.
Geo News reported that helicopter operations were suspended for the night and another cable car was attached to the remaining cable to help rescue the trapped passengers. Ground efforts remain active.
