Battagram, August 22, 2023: The Aviation officers of Pakistan Army and Special Service Group (SSG) commandos successfully rescued three additional school students who were stuck on the chairlift in Battagram, citing ISPR.
In the footage, the rescuer of SSG commandos can be seen strung up from a helicopter pulling out one of the trapped school children in the chairlift by using the harness.
After the hours-long rescue efforts, the student was safely shifted to the ground.
READ: Chairlift mishap leaves schoolchildren stranded midair in KPK
The air rescue mission had to be halted due to adverse windy conditions and darkness, while two of the children were finally rescued during the fourth attempt at airlifting.
Following this, the Pakistan Army Aviation and SSG teams decided to shift their focus to a ground-based chairlift rescue operation. Additionally, a local cable crossing expert from the Northern areas was brought in to support the rescue efforts.
The rescue operation is being led by GOC SSG, and a final attempt to airlift the stranded students and their teacher via helicopter was made. This helicopter rescue operation posed higher risks due to the windy weather and darkness.
All necessary preparations have been put in place to continue the operation throughout the night. Furthermore, SSG commandos have provided food and medical supplies to those stuck on the chairlift.
It has been decided to install a smaller chairlift alongside the broken one to safely extract the remaining individuals.
