Cable car horror leaves children trapped 900ft above the ground after wire snaps above

Six children were among eight people trapped inside a cable car dangling over a deep Pakistan valley on Tuesday, officials said.

The children – who have been stranded since about 6am local time (1am GMT) – were using the chairlift to cross the valley to get to school in a mountainous area in Battagram, about 120 miles north of Islamabad. 

The cable then suddenly broke at a height of 900 feet midway through its journey in a remote mountainous region.

Syed Hammad Haider, a senior Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provincial official, said: ‘We have requested the KP government to provide a helicopter because the relief activity is not possible without the help of a helicopter,’ he said.

The National Disaster Management Agency said in a statement that six children and two adults were on board at a height of 900 feet, and that the Pakistan Army had been asked to carry out a helicopter rescue mission. 

The children – who have been stranded since about 6am local time (1am GMT) – were using the chairlift to cross the valley to get to school in a mountainous area in Battagram, about 200 kilometres (124 miles) north of Islamabad

It said an army helicopter had been moved to the area for a rescue operation after attempts at fixing the fault had been unsuccessful. 

Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar has said that all ‘dilapidated and non-compliant chairlifts’ must close immediately, per a statement from his office. 

Many children who live in remote and mountainous parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province rely on cable cars to travel to and from school and back. 

However, some chairlifts lack regular maintenance, meaning they can be a risky form of travel.