First two children rescued from cable car hundreds of feet above Pakistan canyon

Members of the military have rescued two children from a cable car dangling hundreds of feet above the ground in a remote part of Pakistan.

Footage on TV stations showed a child in a harness being pulled to safety. The military commandos’ rope could be seen swaying in the wind against the mountainous landscape.

Four more children and two adults still await rescue as night fell. The military said in a statement that the rescue mission is still under way.

An expert has warned the rescue is incredibly delicate because the wind created by the helicopters’ blades could further weaken cables holding the car aloft.

Relatives of those trapped prayed while anxiously watching the operation unfold. The rescue has also transfixed Pakistanis across the country who crowded around televisions in offices, shops, restaurants and hospitals.

According to Pakistani TV stations, some of those trapped were in contact with their families by mobile phone, while authorities said the two adults were consoling the children, who were between the ages of 11 and 15.

One of the cables snapped while the eight people were crossing a river canyon in Battagram district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The children had been on their way to school, and villagers frequently use cable cars to get around Pakistan’s mountainous regions. But the cars are often poorly maintained and every year people die or are injured while traveling in them.

Helicopters were sent to attempt to pluck the people from the cable car – but only after the group spent six hours precariously suspended 1,150 feet above the ground, according to Taimoor Khan, a spokesman for the disaster management authority.

Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, wrote on Twitter, now renamed as X, that he ordered authorities “to urgently ensure safe rescue and evacuation of the 8 people”.

“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 on the platform.

Several helicopters hovered above the scene, and ambulances gathered on the ground.

Tipu Sultan, a retired army brigadier and defence expert, warned that the helicopters themselves could make the situation worse but that the commandos would be well aware of that risk. Mr Khan added that the pilots were flying “carefully”.

In 2017, 10 people were killed when a cable car fell into a ravine hundreds of feet deep in the popular mountain resort of Murree after its cable broke.