Pakistan cable car owner arrested by police on endangerment and negligence charges
23 August 2023, 16:48
The owner of a faulty cable car, which left six children and two adults dangling 900ft above a ravine, has been arrested by police in Pakistan.
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The incident happened on Tuesday at around 07:00 local time (02:00 GMT) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa - a northwest province of Pakistan.
Now, officers in the region have detained cable car owner Gul Zareen on multiple charges, including endangering valuable lives and negligence, according to local police.
The incident saw the army called in after one of the two wires supporting the chair lift broke, leaving commuters hanging precariously over the valley.
With high winds in the area making the jobs of rescuers even more difficult, the army were called in to assist with the rescue.
All eight people rescued from cable car hundreds of feet above Pakistan canyon
The incident sparked a massive rescue operation lasting more than 12 hours, with the army called in to attempt rescues from a helicopter.
The chair lift could be seen swinging dangerously due to the helicopter's downdraft, with six individuals eventually rescued from the chair lift, located 274m (900ft) above the valley, by soldiers on zip wires.
Pakistan's army said the rescue mission had been "extremely difficult and dangerous".
All eight individuals - two teachers and six children, aged 10 and 16-years-old - had been travelling to school across the Allai valley when the accident occurred.
The cable car is the quickest and cheapest mode of transport from the village of Jangri to Batangi, where the school is located.
All eight were eventually rescued safely.
"When the chairlift was halfway there, its rope broke. It was dangling and I was terrified," one child, Attaullah Shah, recounted.
The UK's high commissioner to Pakistan Jane Marriott said: "A huge relief that all those caught up in the cable car incident in Battagram are now safely back on the ground.
"Thank you to all those who worked tirelessly to make this happen."
A shocking clip of the first child being rescued showed him dangling from the helicopter as it gradually flew off to safety.
The child gripped a safety rope tightly while he appeared strapped in a harness, as he hung thousands of feet from the ground.
