Punjab’s DG Rescue Dr Rizwan Naseer said that a height rescue team is also on standby and is ready for help.
Battagram chairlift rescue operation: Army’s SSG commandos rescue two children۔ More than 10 hours after the incident, the Pakistan Army’s Special Services Group (SSG) rescued two of the eight people who have been dangling mid-air after the cable of a chairlift broke in Allai Tehsil in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Battagram district on Tuesday.
According to Rescue 1122, the rescue operation is underway to save the rest of the people inside the chairlift.
Helicopters of Pakistan Army Aviation and Pakistan Air Force are participating in the rescue operation along with the SSG troops.
The open chair lift 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.
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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 lift broke at around 7:45am which led to the chairlift being stranded mid-air.
The chairlift 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.
