Peshawar
When Pakistani villager Gul Faraz rang his family to raise the alarm that a cable had snapped and he and seven schoolchildren were trapped in a chair lift swaying in the wind high above a rocky ravine, he doubted he would ever see home again.
It is an unforgettable day, Faraz said on Wednesday, a day after army commandos performed a miraculous rescue, winching two to safety with a helicopter, and bringing the rest down on a zip line when it became too dark to fly safely in the gusting winds.
It is a part of the world where chair lifts and rickety rope bridges are the fastest way to move from a village on one hillside to its nearest neighbour across ravines and valleys.
The schoolchildren, aged between 10 and 16, had been coming down from their homes in Jhangri to a school in Battangi, two villages in the Allai valley, when the calamity struck at around 7 am.
The journey by chair lift usually took just a matter of minutes, whereas travelling on the rough mountain roads and tracks takes hours.
Having dreaded the worst, Pakistan exulted with relief and pride over the daring rescue.
It was heartening to see the whole nation praying and standing united in the hour of need, caretaker Prime Minister Anwar ul Haq Kakar told a news conference in the southern city of Karachi. Those prayers were answered for Faraz and the children.
We got a second life, he said.
