Incredible survival of schoolkids after cable car crisis in Pakistan
Six schoolchildren are among those involved in a dramatic rescue effort in Pakistan, after a cable broke up to 365m in the air halfway across a remote valley, leaving them trapped and sky-high
READING LEVEL: ORANGE
In incredible scenes, all eight people including six schoolchildren, trapped for hours in a damaged cable car high above a remote Pakistan valley, were brought to safety late on Tuesday.
“The rescue operation has been completed. The two adults were the last to be rescued,” said Pakistan emergency service official Bilal Faizi.
The group were using the chairlift to access a school when a cable broke at a height of up to 365m midway through its journey in a remote, mountainous part of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province*.
The children were rescued first, with the adults the last to be plucked* free.
On Twitter, now renamed X, Caretaker* Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar said he was “relieved” by the safe rescue.
“Great team work by the military, rescue departments, district administration as well as the local people,” he said.
Makeshift* cable cars are common in parts of Pakistan. They enable journeys over valleys in minutes that would otherwise take hours to reach the other side.
A video of an early rescue showed a child strapped into a harness swinging from underneath a helicopter as crowds cheered in the background.
Several military helicopters had earlier in the day flown reconnaissance* sorties* and an airman was lowered by harness to deliver food, water and medicine, local government official Tanveer Ur Rehman told AFP.
“This is a delicate operation that demands meticulous* accuracy,” he said. “The helicopter cannot approach the chairlift closely, as its downwash (air pressure) might snap the sole chain supporting it.”
Anxious crowds gathered on both sides of the ravine*, which is several hours from any sizeable town.
“Every time the helicopter lowered the rescuer closer to the chairlift, the wind from the helicopter would shake and (unbalance) the chairlift, making the children scream in fear,” Allai valley area chairman Ghulamullah, told Geo News. “What can they do?”
The chairlift broke down at around 7am Tuesday (about 12pm AEST), with residents using mosque* loudspeakers to alert neighbourhood officials across the Allai valley.
Headmaster Ali Asghar Khan told AFP by phone that the children were teenage boys and students at his government high school, Battangi Pashto.
“The school is located in a mountainous area and there are no safe crossings, so it’s common to use the chairlift,” Mr Khan said. “The parents are gathered at the site of the chairlift. What can they do? They are waiting for the rescue officials to get their children out. We are all worried.”
Abid Ur Rehman, a teacher from another school in the area, said around 500 people had gathered to watch the rescue mission.
“Parents and women are crying for the safety of their children,” he told AFP.
Senior provincial official Syed Hammad Haider said the gondola* was hanging about 305-366m above the ground.
Caretaker PM Kakar issued a directive* for all chairlifts in mountainous areas to be inspected and for those that are not “safety compliant*” to be immediately closed.
Cable cars that carry passengers and sometimes even cars are common across the northern areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Gilgit-Baltistan. They are vital in connecting villages and towns in areas where roads cannot be built but there have been fatal accidents in the past, the last in 2017.
POLL
GLOSSARY
- province: a large area of a country, like our states and territories
- plucked: removed suddenly, swiftly pulled out or off
- caretaker: person who is taking care of something or someone, often temporarily
- makeshift: temporary, low quality, used to fulfil an immediate need but often poorly made
- reconnaissance: actively getting information or surveying a situation ahead of acting
- sorties: quick deployment of troops or personnel into a situation
- meticulous: very careful and with great attention to every detail
- ravine: deep, narrow valley with steep sides
- mosque: building used for Islamic prayer and worship by Muslims
- gondola: a passenger container or vessel or some sort
- directive: order, instruction, command
- compliant: meeting known and accepted standards
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QUICK QUIZ
- How many students were trapped in the cable car?
- The cable broke at an estimated height of how many metres?
- Why are makeshift cable cars common in parts of Pakistan?
- Who was rescued last?
- How many people approximately gathered to watch the rescue mission?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Create an action-packed scene
Write a script or create a storyboard for a scene for a suspense-filled adventure/action movie based on the rescue. Your scene should capture the drama and have your audience on the edge of their seats!
Time: allow at least 30 minutes for this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Media Arts, Visual Communication Design
2. Extension
What skills or personal qualities do you think the different members of the rescue team needed to be able to get all of the students and adults to safety? Write a list. Be inspired and write down the ways that you could show these skills and qualities in your everyday life.
Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social Capability
VCOP ACTIVITY
Read this!
A headline on an article – or a title on your text – should capture the attention of the audience, telling them to read this now. So choosing the perfect words for a headline or title is very important.
Create three new headlines for the events that took place in this article. Remember, what you write and how you write it will set the pace for the whole text, so make sure it matches.
Read out your headlines to a partner and discuss what the article will be about based on the headline you created. Discuss the tone and mood you set in just your few, short words. Does it do the article justice? Will it capture the audience’s attention the way you hoped? Would you want to read more?
Consider how a headline or title is similar to using short, sharp sentences throughout your text. They can be just as important as complex ones. Go through the last text you wrote and highlight any short, sharp sentences that capture the audience.