The helicopter rescue mission was called off as night fell and a ground-based rescue operation continued in the dark. Photo: AFP
Rescuers in Pakistan pulled all seven children and one man to safety after their cable car became stranded high over a remote ravine on Tuesday, officials said, ending an ordeal lasting more than 15 hours.
The high-risk operation was completed successfully in the darkness of night after the cable car snagged early in the morning, leaving it hanging precariously at an angle.
"All the kids have been successfully and safely rescued," caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said in a post on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
"Great team work by the military, rescue departments, district administration as well as the local people."
A helicopter rescue operation was called off as night fell, media and a security source said. Flood lights were installed and a ground-based rescue operation continued into the night.
The source said that cable crossing experts had been sent by the military to the area north of Islamabad and had been trying to rescue the children one by one by transferring them on to a small platform along the cable.
The rescue effort transfixed the country, with Pakistanis crowded around television sets, as local media showed footage of an emergency worker dangling from a helicopter cable close to the small cabin, with those onboard cramped together.
- Reuters