Schoolchildren who were rescued from a broken cable car dangling high above a valley in Pakistan have said they repeatedly feared they were about to die during the 16-hour ordeal despite attempts by their parents to reassure them over mobile phones.
Several of the children, who had been on their way to school on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) when one of the car's cables snapped, also appealed for a school and bridge to be built in their village so they wouldn't have to ride the cable car in the future.
On Wednesday, police arrested Gul Zarin, the owner of the cable car, on charges of ignoring safety measures. Local authorities in the northwestern mountainous regions said they would close all cable cars believed to be unsafe.
New images showed the ordeal of the six children and two adults before they were pulled from the cable car in a daring rescue on Tuesday.
One of the youngest was grabbed by a commando attached to a helicopter by rope, while others were lowered to the ground with the help of volunteers using a makeshift chairlift constructed by villagers from a wooden bed frame and ropes. Volunteer Mohammad Sohaib emerged as a hero after helping to rescue three of the children, one by one.
"I had heard stories about miracles, but I saw a miraculous rescue happening with my own eyes," said 15-year-old Osama Sharif, one of those rescued.
Osama was headed to school on Tuesday to receive the results of his final exam when one of the cables snapped.
"We suddenly felt a jolt, and it all happened so suddenly that we thought all of us are going to die," he said in a telephone interview.
Some of those aboard had mobile phones and started making calls. Worried parents tried to reassure the children.
"They were telling us don't worry, help is coming," he said. After several hours, the passengers saw helicopters flying in the air.
Locally made cable cars are a widely used form of transportation in the mountainous Battagram district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Gliding across steep valleys, they cut down travel time to schools, workplaces and businesses. But they often are poorly maintained, and every year people die or are injured while using them.
Thousands of people turned out to watch the risky operation on Tuesday. At one stage, a rope lowered from a helicopter swayed wildly as a child, secured by a harness, was pulled up.
In fact, the choppers added an element of danger. The air currents churned up by the whirling blades risked weakening the only cable preventing the cable car from crashing to the bottom of the river canyon.
"We cried, and tears were in our eyes, as we feared the cable car will go down," Osama said.
Two other survivors, Rizwan Ullah, an 11-year-old boy and Gul Faraz, 25, told The Associated Press that they would not forget the ordeal for years.
Gul said he feared while waiting for rescue that the cable car would crash to the ground and "we would die soon."
He appealed to the government to build a school in the area and link their village to nearby towns with a bridge and a road "so our elders and young people don't face such things."
