BATTAGRAM: The families of the students and teachers stranded in a broken-down cable car in Battagram area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa yesterday erupted with joy as the last child was freed late last night.
Night fell as the first of the students was rescued and it was several more hours until the cable car was finally cleared of passengers.
“People had been constantly praying because there was a fear that the rope might break. People kept praying until the last person was rescued,” emergency official Waqar Ahmad said while talking to media.
He went om to say that once everyone had been rescued, the families started crying with joy and hugging each other.
The Battagram cable car was stranded from 7am on Tuesday morning and carried one adult and seven children heading to school.
Government confirmed the rescue mission was complete some 15 hours later, and has declared inspections of cable cars will be carried out across the country.
During the rescue of eight strande students the ground operation replaced helicopters as night fell.
‘For God’s sake, help us,’ pleaded man trapped onboard’
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The local officials revealed that the cable car which got stuck on Tuesday was used by scores of children every day to cross a valley and reach school. A local teacher from Battagram, identified by local media by just his first name Iqbal, said at least 150 students take the cable car to and from school daily.
The chairlift was left dangling from 7am on Tuesday until last night, suspended 900ft above a ravine, after one of its cables snapped.
The teacher explained that due to the lack of road facilities, students have no choice but to take the cable car if they want to reach school. “There are no other arrangements,” he said.
After Tuesday’s 15-hour ordeal, Pakistan’s government has ordered an investigation into all cable cars nationwide. In remote areas, these modes of transportation are often constructed illegally by locals in the absence of other infrastructure.
Sonia Shamroz, a senior official from Battagram highlighted the need to maintain cable cars and chairlifts in the area because of their frequent use and said that it was extremely important since children in these regions use them as their only mode of transport.
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