PESHAWAR: The caretaker government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has ordered an inspection and safety audit of all the chairlifts installed in the province after the cable car incident in Battagram.
On Tuesday, Pakistan Army’s special unit and zipline experts rescued eight people, including six schoolboys, who were stuck in a stranded cable car over a remote valley in Tehsil Alai on Tuesday.
After daylight the helicopter began a daring rescue with a child being lifted into the air after about 12 hours to safety, but due to nightfall the helicopter was sent back to base. .
Rescuers then used a cable to keep the gondola from plunging into the canyon, as a zip line to rescue the remaining stranded people by Tuesday night.
As per the fresh instructions issued to all Deputy Commissioners of KP, they have been tasked to carry out safety audits of chairlifts under their jurisdiction.
Immediate checking of chairlifts at all commercial, domestic and recreational places should be done by the provincial government, the advisory said that cable cars installed on rivers and canals should also be checked by the concerned authorities.
DCs have been asked to review the design, capacity and safety measures of all chairlifts and submit a report within a week.
It has also been made mandatory to obtain a no-objection certificate from the district administration before installing cable cars.
Cable cars that carry passengers—and sometimes cars—are common in northern parts of KP and Gilgit-Baltistan, and are vital for connecting villages and towns in areas where roads cannot be built.
In 2017, 10 people died when a chairlift cable snapped, sending passengers falling into a ravine in a hill town near the capital Islamabad.
