Three of the children from among the passengers stuck in the dangling cable car in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Battagram district have passed their class 9 exams.
According to details, Attaullah son of Kifayatullah obtained 442 marks, Niaz Mohammad s/o Umar Zaib secured 412 and Usama s/o Muhammad Sharif took 391 numbers, and they were promoted to class 10 as the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Abbottabad announced the results earlier today.
The trio are the students of Government High School Batangi Pashto Alai.
More than 10 hours after the incident, the Pakistan Army’s Special Services Group (SSG) rescued two of the eight people — seven students and one teacher — who have been dangling mid-air.
After saving the two lives, the rescue operation via helicopter has been suspended due to darkness and the windy weather, sources said.
However, the army is continuing its efforts to save the people by alternative means, the sources added.
They also said that another cable car — smaller in size — has been hung on the same cable to retrieve the remaining five students and a teacher.
The open cable car became stranded halfway across a ravine and was hanging by a single cable after the other snapped, Shariq Riaz Khattak a rescue official at the site told Reuters.
The rescue mission is complicated due to gusty winds in the area and the fact the helicopter’s rotor blades risk further destabilising the lift, he said.
Another kid becomes unconscious
Noor ul Hadi, an eyewitness, said that another kid has become unconscious, staking the total number of people unconscious to three.
“The people surrounding the area are told to stay back. It is said that they will be rescued with a help of a rope,” said Hadi, adding that the stranded people are yet to receive any food or water.
Initial report of incident
An initial report of the incident says that seven schoolchildren and a local person were travelling in the cable car to go to the Batangi Government High School.
According to the report, one cable of the gondola broke at around 7:45am which led to the cable car being stranded mid-air.
The cable car hands at a height of 6,000 feet. Abrar, Irfan, Usama, Rizwan Ullah, Ataullah, Niaz Muhammad, Sher Nawaz and Gul Faraz are stuck inside the lift.
The report said that Battagram’s deputy commissioner contacted Hazara’s commissioner after he received report about the incident. The DC asked for the arrangement of a helicopter. Moreover, the SSG team based in Kaghan Valley was also contacted after which the helicopter reached the location at 11:45am. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) helicopter reached the site at 2pm.
District administration, police, and two rescue teams are currently present at the location, the report said, adding that an emergency has been imposed at the nearby health centres and the District Headquarter Hospital (DHQ) Battagram has also been put on high alert.
Punjab’s DG Rescue Dr Rizwan Naseer said that a height rescue team is also on standby and is ready for help.
