The children were using the chairlift to cross the valley to get to school when a cable broke at a height of about 365m midway through its journey in a remote, mountainous part of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

“For God’s sake help us,” Gulfraz, a man stuck in the cable car, told Pakistan television channel Geo News by phone, confirming eight people were on board.

“It has been nearly five hours since we are stuck mid-air. The situation is so bad that one man has already fainted. A helicopter arrived, but left without conducting any operations.”

The accident happened around 7am local time, with residents using mosque loudspeakers to alert neighbourhood officials across the valley.

“The cable car is suspended by a single rope. There are a minimum of eight occupants primarily consisting of schoolchildren,” Abdul Basit Khan, a senior official for the provincial rescue agency, told AFP.

The group had already been suspended in the air for more than four hours when a Pakistan Army helicopter arrived on the scene, according to images shown on local television.

“The cable car is stuck in a place where it is almost impossible to help without a helicopter,” Zulfiqar Khan, an official with Pakistan’s 1122 rescue service, told AFP.

The cable hangs in the middle of a deep ravine surrounded by stunning mountains, where cable cars are frequently used to connect remote villages and towns.

The National Disaster Management Agency said in a statement that six children and two adults were on board at a height of at least 274m.

Syed Hammad Haider, a senior Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provincial official, said the cable car was hanging about 304m to 365m above the ground.

“We have requested the KP government to provide a helicopter because the relief activity is not possible without the help of a helicopter,” he said.