Five children rescued from cable car: ISPR

Battagram: A team of the Pakistan Army successfully rescued five children who were among those stranded in a chairlift since Tuesday morning in Battagram city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after a cable broke.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), in a statement, said the general commanding officer of the Pakistan Army’s Special Services Group (SSG) was leading the rescue operation, which is continue to retrieve other trapped in the chairlift.

Two of the children were airlifted by a helicopter in a sling operation and others were rescued in ongoing ground operation as the helicopter operation was called off as the night fell.

Six schoolchildren and two teachers were stranded since 7am when they were using the chairlift to get to the school in a mountainous area about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Islamabad.

Officials said the rescue mission was complicated by gusty winds in the area and the helicopters' rotor blades risked destabilizing the cable car.

Furthermore, special services troops, trained in sling operations, are also involved in this "extremely dangerous and risky operation".

Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar expressed concern in a post on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

"I have also directed the authorities to conduct safety inspections of all such private chairlifts and ensure that they are safe to operate and use," he said in a post.

The KP chief minister also directed the authorities concerned to utilise all availabe resources to rescue the teachers and schoolchildren.

Those in the know of the efforts being undertaken to rescue the stranded people said it was a "unique operation" and had to be carried out with a great deal of caution as the helicopter had to be carefully taken to the place to avoid unnecessary air pressure near the chairlift. 

They said the rescue operation could take time and any hasty decision could prove counter-productive as it involved human lives.