ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Eight people, including six school children, were trapped in a malfunctioning chair lift in northern Pakistan on Tuesday, officials said, and a military helicopter has been dispatched to rescue them.
The children, who have been stranded since about 6 a.m local time (0100 GMT), were using the chair lift to get to school in a mountainous area in Battagram, about 200 kilometres (124 miles) north of Islamabad.
“A cable broke in a chair lift service, following which people have been trapped 900 feet (274 metres) above the ground,” Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority said in a statement.
It said an army helicopter had been moved to the area for a rescue operation after attempts at fixing the fault had been unsuccessful.
(Reporting by Asif Shahzad in Islamabad and Mushtaq Ali in Peshawar; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
