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 were stranded since about 6 a.m local time (8 p.m. Monday ET), were using the chair lift to get to school in a mountainous area in Battagram, about 124 miles north of Islamabad.
“A cable broke in a chair lift service, following which people have been trapped 900 feet 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.