An urgent rescue effort is under way to save six children and two teachers who are trapped in a chairlift dangling 274m (900ft) over a canyon in Pakistan.

Emergency workers using a helicopter are attempting to free the eight people, who have been stuck high in the air after a cable snapped on Tuesday.

Spanning a river and connecting villages in Battagram district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the chairlift is used by local villagers to shorten the distance to nearby schools, government offices and other businesses.

Taimoor Khan, a spokesman for the disaster management authority, said the chairlift had been dangling 350 meters above ground for six hours before a helicopter was dispatched to the site to try and pluck the eight out of the chairlift.

Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar ordered the helicopter rescue, Mr Khan said.

A picture of the chairlift shows the compartment suspended high over the canyon, listing significantly to one side.

The incident comes several years after ten people were killed when a cable car lift installed by local villagers in the popular mountain resort of Murree broke and fell into a ravine hundreds of feet deep in 2017.

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