Peshawar: Eight people, including six schoolchildren, were rescued by military aircraft and zipline experts after being stuck for hours in a broken cable car high above a remote Pakistani valley. After nearly 12 hours in the air as daylight dwindled, a helicopter took two youngsters to safety in the daring rescue, but it was forced to return to base in the dark.
Then rescuers used the cable keeping the gondola from plunging into the valley as a zipline to rescue the rest of those stranded late.
"The rescue operation has been completed. The two adults were the last to be rescued," Bilal Faizi, from the Pakistan emergency service Rescue 1122, said. The military confirmed the rescue efforts had successfully concluded. Rescuers set up a temporary camp on a mountaintop and were providing first aid, Faizi said.
The six children had been on their way to school when the chairlift broke down midway through its journey, hanging above the lush green Allai valley.
Hundreds of people gathered on both sides of the valley, hours away from any significant town, while residents used mosque loudspeakers to notify neighbourhood officials of the emergency.
"Great team work by the military, rescue departments, district administration as well as the local people," caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar posted on X.