A dramatic rescue operation on the gondola of a cable car has had a happy ending for six children and two adults in Pakistan. In the late evening hours, helpers brought the last occupants of the gondola to safety, who had been hanging on a single rope at a height of hundreds of meters for more than 15 hours, as confirmed by civil protection. Two steel wires on the gondola had previously snapped.
Special forces of the army had tried until nightfall to free the inmates in the valley in the north of the country. Two children were eventually rescued by commandos. When darkness fell, the commandos initially interrupted the rescue operation. However, brave local residents are proceeding with the rescue operation after close consultation with military experts, while the nation watched with anticipation for the rescuers. They used devices on the wire to get to the gondola and first freed three other children and then the remaining occupants, as videos on social media showed.
Hundreds of people, including relatives, gathered not far from the scene of the accident. An eyewitness described the emergency to the dpa as the hardest day of his life. “Mothers, fathers and other relatives had their eyes on the gondola floating in mid-air,” the local resident said. When the first child was brought to safety, everyone erupted in joy.
In the afternoon (local time), several helicopters were still circling over the gorge in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Television footage Tuesday showed a commando rappelling himself from a military helicopter to the gondola.
In large parts of the country, residents watched the extremely risky rescue operation on television. “Every little miscalculation can lead to a catastrophe,” rescue official Bilal Faizi told dpa. The helpers were also worried about the weather conditions in the mountains, which can change quickly. The rotor movements of the military helicopter could also have destabilized the steel cable. A soldier gave the children medicine and water at the beginning of the rescue operation.
A 20-year-old described the dramatic hours to the Pakistani TV station Geo TV from the gondola. “We don’t even have drinking water,” complained the young man. A 16-year-old with heart problems collapsed and passed out for several hours. The boy was on his way to a clinic in the morning.
The Acting Prime Minister, Anwaarul Haq Kakar, instructed the rescue authorities to mobilize all available resources for the operation. He also called for a safety check of private cable cars in the country. “I was relieved to learn that all of the children were successfully and safely rescued. Great teamwork from the military, emergency services, county government and local community,” he later wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
In the northern mountain regions of Pakistan, many residents use cable cars every day on their way to school or work, for example to cross valleys or rivers. The cable cars are often poorly maintained. The road network is less developed.
