A 14-hour rescue effort involving army helicopters and professionals garnered national and international attention.
After a near-fatal struggle that lasted over 15 hours, six children and two adults were successfully rescued from a cable car in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region late on Tuesday. Since the event, two people have been detained and charged with negligence.
As there are no bridges in the area, residents had to utilise the cable car to cross the Jangri Khwar river in the country’s Battagram district. Two suspension lines broke, leaving the gondola dangling precariously 600 feet (182 metres) above a river valley below, as the children on board were travelling to school.
Four helicopters and the Special Services Group (SSG) of the Pakistani Army supported the civil rescue teams. Numerous rescue attempts were shown live on TV, attracting the attention of millions of people across the country.
Before the rescue effort was abandoned out of concern that the gondola may separate due to rotor backwash, one of the kids was flown out by helicopter.
As night fell, helicopter operations were suspended due to poor visibility and adverse weather. Rescuers then attempted to use ziplines in the dark to get to the damaged gondola.
“The process is slow and dangerous. According to Abdul Nasir Khan, a local resident, “one person needs to tie himself with a rope and he will go in a tiny chairlift and rescue them one by one. All eight occupants of the car were secure by the end of the almost 15-hour period.
The owner and operator of the cable car were detained by the local police on Wednesday on suspicion of breaking five provisions of Pakistani law, including those pertaining to “rash driving” and “negligent conduct with respect to machinery.”
According to the police report that Dawn was able to obtain, “This negligence endangered the lives of eight people, caused them emotional distress, and resulted in a loss for the government.”
The owner was charged with using “substandard rope” for the cable car and failing to give the police a cable fitness certificate.
