Rescuers in Pakistan feared the worst as they raced to save the children on the cable car.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 25 (Reuters) – The thrilling rescue of children dangling hundreds of meters from a cable car in Pakistan this week faced unprecedented challenges, with officials fearing the last remaining cable could snap at any moment, rescuers said and military. the officers said.

He sixteen hour rescue effort grabbed world attention as Pakistan’s air force, army and civilians on the ground struggled to rescue eight people, mostly children, from the flimsy cable car, which dangled 600 feet (183 meters) above a river after it crashed. one of its cables broke.

“It was very stressful,” said Maj. Asad Khan Marwat, who played a key role in coordinating the operation from the ground.

An air force helicopter tried for hours to get close to the cable car, but due to the strong wind, it was difficult to get close.

Asad said rescuers were concerned that dropping a rescuer on the cable car, which was only built for seven or eight people, could cause them to fall. But he had a hard time convincing the terrified children to put on their harnesses and get out of the car so they could be lifted up by helicopter.

Finally, a boy tried it just before dark.

“That kid was able to use that harness and it hooked itself up,” Asad said. “He was a brave boy.”

As the light faded, the winds intensified. Concerned that any further attempts by air would be too dangerous, rescuers called off the helicopters.

Fearing the last cable would snap and with the children starving (two of them fainted during the ordeal), they decided that the rescue would have to continue from the ground.

“We had to do it at any cost,” said Lt. Col. Muhammad Kamran, who helped oversee the operation with the Special Services Group (SSG), the special forces unit.

A local resident, Habibullah, 23, told Reuters he had carried out around six rescues along cable car lines before, although they were much smaller. He convinced the military that they should travel along the cable on a test basis.

He hung up a simple charpai (a cot made of wood and ropes) and tied it to the remaining wire. She crawled towards the cable car but couldn’t get close enough.

Still, military officials were now convinced that it could work with the right equipment.

A resident across the valley, 24-year-old Sahib Khan, who had been provided with a harness by rescuers, set off from the right side of the river bank, facing the main rescue operations, and managed to rescue one person. .

Asad and local residents tried to cheer up the remaining children over the phone.

“We comforted them over the phone. I told them, ‘just use the harness, you’re safe, you’re not going anywhere.'”

Two professional zip liners who run an adventure company came to the area and rescued three children in one fell swoop.

Mohammad Ali carefully secured the children in the harnesses, then double-checked the clips.

“Children, where we are securing you, please don’t play with it,” he told them before flying back across the valley with the three of them in tow.

After Ali broke his hand, a special forces commando took his place on the next and final zip line ride.

The last three were carried to the side of the hill, suspended in harnesses, where their families waited, amid shouts of “God is great.”

“It was a moment of great achievement,” said Lt. Col. Kamran.

“The locals were very happy, very grateful to Allah Almighty…we thanked them for their support.”

“They had their loved ones with them, they had their mothers, they were hugging and waving.”

Gathering later Thursday in the capital Islamabad, rescuers, residents and students gathered, first attending a celebration ceremony with the acting prime minister and then speaking together over tea and samosas while discussing the high-risk rescue.

“I talked to them (the rescued children) and I felt like they were like members of my family, my own children, my own brothers. I was very happy to see them,” Kamran said.

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.