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PESHAWAR, Aug 22 (APP): An army helicopter arrived and start sling operation to rescue school children stranded mid-air after a chairlift’s cable broke down in the Allai Tehsil of Battagram, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday.
Special Services Group Sling Team will carry out the operation to rescue eight students along with two teachers who were stuck midair owing to a broken cable.
The National Disaster Management Authority said in a statement that the incident was reported around 8:30 am in the morning, adding that a chairlift stuck at a height of about 900 feet midway due to breakage of one of its cables in Battagram.
The statement said NDMA has provided coordination support to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).
“After coordination a Pakistan Army’s helicopter has been dispatched for rescue operation,” it added.
The incident was also confirmed by Mansehra Deputy Inspector General of Police Tahir Ayub who said there is no option but to rescue the stranded passengers through a copter.
Gulfaraz, one of the passengers on the chairlift, said in his WhatsApp message that the first wire broke at 7am after which another one also broke.
Sonia Shamrose, the district police officer, said that all efforts were being made to rescue the people trapped in the chairlift.
Zafar Iqbal, a school teacher, said that the students were coming to the school by the chairlift.
“The chairlift is used to go from one place to another. In this area, where around 150 children come to school by the chairlift,” he said, confirming that two wires of the cable car broke down mid-air.