Pakistani emergency teams launched a rescue operation to try to save six children and two men who were trapped in a gondola lift after one of its cables snapped on Tuesday, leaving the lift high in the north-west of the country.
The chairlift crosses a river canyon and connects villages in the district of Battagram, in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Residents use it to cross the river and shorten the distance to nearby schools, government offices and other businesses.
The chairlift was dangling 350 meters (1,150 feet) off the ground for six hours until a helicopter was sent to the area to try to extricate the eight trapped, said Taimoor Khan, a spokesman for the disaster management agency.
The interim prime minister of the country, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakarordered the rescue with the helicopter, Khan said.
Many of those who live in the highlands of Pakistan use these types of chairlifts to reduce distances and get around, and an unknown number of people die or are injured each year in incidents related to the bad state of the system.