Rescuers in Pakistan pulled five of seven children to safety after they became stranded with their teacher in a cable car high over a ravine, but a helicopter rescue operation was called off as night fell, media and a security source said.
Flood lights were installed and a ground-based rescue operation was continuing more than 12 hours after their cable car snagged, leaving it hanging at an angle, a security source said.
The source added that cable crossing experts had been sent by the military to the area, a remote location north of Islamabad, and were trying to rescue the children one by one by transferring them on to a small platform along the cable.
"Three more children have been rescued in Pakistan army's rescue operation," the military said after the helicopter had been withdrawn. "Five children have been rescued so far. Operation is continuing."
A video shared by a rescue agency official showed more than a dozen rescuers and locals lined up near the edge of the dark ravine, pulling on a cable until a boy attached to it by a harness reached the hillside safely to cries of "God is great."
Residents said community members from surrounding areas who had experience rescuing people this way had also arrived.
