“I am relieved to know that, Alhamdulillah, all the kids have been successfully and safely rescued. Great teamwork by the military, rescue departments, district administration, as well as the local people.” – Prime Minister, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar,
The caretaker Prime Minister, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, took his X account, previously known as Twitter, to validate the safety of seven children and one local person who were held on a dangling chair for more than 15 hours.
The incident took place on August 22, 2023, in Allai Tehsil in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Battagram district, when during traveling through a cable car, one of its wires snapped, leaving the passengers held in the air for almost a whole day.
As soon as news broke out, the army took the lead and made the effort to retrieve two people before sunset with the help of a helicopter. Due to darkness and gusty winds, it becomes difficult for army officers to continue the operation. Along with the pressure created by the helicopter, it causes the cable car to lose its balance. The helicopter also had a chance to strike another cable car that was hung 30 m above the stuck one. Thus, after monitoring all the scenarios, the army decided to start a ground operation to rescue the remaining 5 people from the hanging cable car.
How do they do so?
SSG’s commander tied a smaller cable car with the same string to distribute food and water to the individuals and also used it to recover the remaining 5 people.
Despite all the difficulties, the cooperative action of the Army and Pakistan Air Force led to the safe recovery of these stuck passengers.
Condition of the individuals
Reports show that out of eight individuals, seven are students and the other is a teacher. Gulfaraz, a student who was stuck in the cable car, mentioned in the interview that they were running out of water in the cable car and that another boy of 16 years had fainted because of his cardiac illness.
Swinging in the air between the mountains has the power to run wild your nerves, but they stay calm and wait patiently for help, symbolizing their courage and trust in the nation.
Alarming Incident
According to reports, 150 students travel daily from this cable car to their school. A slight error in the functioning of the cable car can impart huge risk to their lives. Thus, the proper working of the cable car should be ensured to avoid future mishaps.
Luckily, the caretaker Prime Minister, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, took this incident seriously and directed the National Disaster Management Authority and Provincial Disaster Management Authority to ensure the proper working of chairlifts.
“I have also directed the authorities to conduct safety inspections of all such private chairlifts and ensure that they are safe to operate and use.”
Conclusion
Though our army officers’ hard work pays off and we dodged this horrific incident, fortunately, some precautionary measures must be taken to avoid such incidents in the future.
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