Four children have already been rescued from a faulty cable elevator over a ravine in Pakistan

Four children are being rescued from an open cabin above a valley in northern Pakistan. It was reported by Geo News TV, and confirmed by Pakistan’s emergency services and police.

Two adults and six school children had been trapped in the open cabin since 7 am local time (10 am local time). The children used the elevator to reach their school, which is located in a mountainous area in Patagram, about 200 kilometers north of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. This is not unusual in such a mountainous region.

One of the elevator cables broke during the ride. “As a result, people are trapped above a valley that is 274 meters deep.” The cabin hangs from a single cable. “This makes the process delicate, complex and risky,” says a local police chief. The rotating motions of the military helicopter can destabilize the steel cable. At the beginning of the rescue operation, one of the soldiers gave the children medicine and water.

One of the men in the elevator was contacted by Pakistan’s Geo News TV channel. “Help us for God’s sake,” says Julfaraz, 20. “We were stuck in the air for about five hours. It’s too bad the guy has already passed out.” The BBC also contacted him. The six teenagers on board are reported to be between the ages of 10 and 16. A 16-year-old boy had heart problems and was unconscious for two hours. He added that the boy took the gondola to the hospital.

Other cable lifts

Concerns about X, formerly Pakistan’s Acting Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, were expressed by Twitter. “I have also instructed the authorities to conduct safety inspections of other cable lifts,” he wrote. According to the BBC, work is also underway on an alternative rescue plan, which includes an attempt to lay new cables.

Although the nearest larger city is an hour’s drive away, about five hundred people, according to one witness, gathered to see what was happening to the gondola. The parents of the passengers also came to the valley.