Two children have been pulled to safety from a cable car dangling hundreds of feet above a ravine in northwest Pakistan, as a desperate rescue mission races to save six other individuals still stranded there.

The six children were travelling to school with two adults on the cable car in a mountainous area of the northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when one of its ropes snapped, local officials say. They have been trapped in place for more than 12 hours.

One child stuck on the gondola has a heart condition and had fainted, a fellow passenger told news outlets by phone several hours ago.

Since then, two children have been rescued in an “extremely risky” helicopter operation – but information about the incident has been sketchy, with officials now appearing to row back on previous claims that a further two had also been freed, amid further confusion over the ages of those onboard.

While efforts on the ground continue, a security source told Reuters that the air rescue mission had been stood down for the night after darkness began to fall at 7pm local time (3pm BST).

Continue here: Independent