In a slow and dangerous operation, eight people are rescued by helicopter and zip line.
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At least two children have reportedly been rescued from a cable car that has been stuck for several hours over a ravine in Pakistan’s north-west.
Members of the military have made several attempts to reach the group of eight, who became stuck when a cable snapped early this morning.
The group was heading to school when it happened, leaving them dangling 274m (900ft) above the ground.
Doctors are at the site to assess those who have been pulled to safety.
The first child was rescued by helicopter, while the second was saved by locals using a zipline, according to rescue officials.
The incident happened at about 07:00 local time (02:00 GMT) on Tuesday near the city of Battagram in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The open cable car is hanging precariously across the Allai valley, now by only one cable.
It is now night time in Pakistan and the helicopter operation has been suspended.
However, rescue teams are continuing their efforts with the help of local people on the ground to reach those still trapped in the cable car.
Retired Pakistan army general Talaat Masood told the BBC that the authorities would now focus on getting a trolley – a smaller cable car – to help the remaining passengers to safety.
However, he said this would be dangerous and would need to be done “with great care”.
Sources have confirmed the air operation will restart on Wednesday morning if required.
The children involved are aged between 10 and 16 years old. One of them, a teenage boy, has a heart condition and was unconscious for several hours, an adult on board named Gulfaraz told local media earlier.
Rescue worker Shariq Riaz Khattak told the Reuters news agency that a child had had fainted due to heat and fear.
It is unclear if that is the same child as the 16-year-old boy with the heart condition and if he is among those who have been rescued.
The car was making its fifth trip of the day, a local police officer told the BBC. By road, the journey from a village to the local school takes about two hours because of the mountainous terrain. The cable car ride reduces that to just four minutes.
A local teacher told the Dawn news agency that about 150 people take the hazardous journey to school by cable car daily because of a lack of transport options in the area.
Residents who spotted the stranded car used loudspeakers to alert officials. It then took at least four hours for the first rescue helicopter to arrive, local media outlet Dawn reported.
Anxious crowds later gathered nearby to watch the mission. They included relatives of those who were trapped, according to Ali Asghar Khan, headmaster of the high school the children attend.
“People in our area are standing here and crying,” Gulfaraz told Pakistan television channel Geo News.
While the rescue mission using helicopters has had some success, it has not been without its dangers. In addition to gusty winds, there were concerns that the helicopter’s rotor blades could further destabilise the cable car, said Mr Khattak.
A commando earlier tried unsuccessfully to reach the car using a rope from a military helicopter, assistant commissioner of Allai Jawad Hussain told the BBC.
However, the rescue team has been able to deliver some water and food.
Further gusty winds and a few periods of heavy rain or thunderstorms are expected on Wednesday, according to BBC Weather.
Allai is a mountainous area, located at an altitude of 2000m above sea level. Settlements are spread far and wide.
Most of this mountainous area in Pakistan’s north has no infrastructure like roads and basic facilities. In most of the area chairlifts and cable cars are used regularly for transportation from one mountain to another.
The one involved in this incident is believed to be privately operated by residents, local media reported.
Pakistan’s acting prime minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar said on X (formerly Twitter) that he has directed the relevant authorities to inspect privately-operated lifts to ensure that they are safe for use.
“The chairlift accident in Battagram is really alarming,” he said.
Additional reporting from Ece Goksedef and Tiffany Wertheimer in London.