The Police have arrested the owner and the operator of the cable car that was stranded at 600ft with 8 people on board in the Battagram district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Seven schoolboys and an adult were rescued by the Pakistan Army commandos and local experts after spending almost 15 hours in the cable car that was suspended by a single wire after two other wires snapped.
The police on Wednesday registered an FIR against the cable car owner Gul Zarin and operator Ejaz at Allai Police Station in Battragram. They also sealed the control room of the cable car, known locally as dolly.
Dozens of similar cable cars or dollies are used in the KP’s mountainous region where roads and bridges are not available everywhere. In the absence of proper infrastructure, the dollies are the only option for connecting villages dotting the mountain sloops.
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The KP government has ordered an inspection of all the cable cars in the province.
In Battagram’s neighbouring district of Mansehra, at least nine cable cars were closed on Wednesday.
Among them are the dollies of Mansehra Boli, Banphora, Ghanul Hungrai, Parur Bela Sacha Kiwai, Dongi Seri Naran Guldheri, and Bhonja.
The measure led to villages being disconnected from each other.
The Kiwai cable car, which connects populations straddling the ferocious Kunhar River, is said to be the most important. Its closure has left the people of Parur stranded.