Hanging by a Wire: What really happened during the 2023 Battagram cable car incident
Hanging by a Wire: What really happened during the 2023 Battagram cable car incident
Archi Biswas Wed, October 28, 2026 at 9:56 AM UTC
0
Hanging by a Wire will release on October 28, 2026 on Paramount+ ©YouTube/@dogwoof
Hanging by a Wire is a 2026 documentary film that is directed by Mohammed Ali Naqvi. Co-written by Bilal Sami, the documentary film is set to release on Paramount+ on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, in the US. Dogwoof is handling the theatrical release in the UK. Earlier this year, Hanging by a Wire was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, followed by the Seattle International Film Festival and the Sydney Film Festival. Hanging by a Wire also became Pakistan's submission for best international feature at the 2027 Oscars.
Hanging by a Wire revisits the August 2023 cable car emergency in Battagram, northern Pakistan. Six school-going boys and two adults were left trapped in the cable car whose wires snapped, and they were left dangling roughly 900 feet above a ravine. This led to a high-stakes rescue operation.
Here's what happened in the August 2023 cable car emergency in Battagram.
Hanging by a Wire: Inside the 2023 Battagram cable car incidentThe incident: Six children and two adults trapped in a broken cable car
According to BBC News, on Tuesday, August 22, 2023, six children and two adults boarded a cable car locally known as a dolly at around 7:00 local time. It was a journey that they took on a daily basis on their way to school and the shops.
Halfway through the journey, two of the three cables snapped, and the cable car became stranded, suspending the group roughly 900 feet above a ravine. The rescue operation faced several challenges. Army helicopters and a zip line were used for the hours-long rescue operation.
According to BBC News, six of the trapped individuals were aged between ten and 16 years. Among them, a 16-year-old boy was a heart patient, and he was unconscious for a while. Strong winds in the region made the rescue operation difficult.
Advertisement
The rescue operation: Army helicopters and a zip line were used in the rescue mission
The military helicopters were able to rescue a child by the evening of August 22, 2023, in a high-risk operation. Helicopter operations were suspended for the night. The second child was pulled to safety by locals using a zip line. However, rescue teams, with the help of local people, were able to send food and water to the cable car.
The army brought in zip line experts from a private company in the Naran region to speed up the rescue operation. Before midnight, three more children were rescued from the suspended cable car. Officials confirmed that all eight people were successfully rescued by around 23:00 local time.
Lack of basic facilities in Allai
According to BBC News, there were no basic facilities or road infrastructure in Allai, the mountainous region where the incident occurred. A resident obtained permission and a No Objection Certificate from the city administration to build a cable car. The vehicle, nicknamed Dolly, linked the village of Jangri to Batangi, where the local school is located. The trapped individuals were coming from Jangri to the village of Batangi. It is a long two-hour walk to reach the school from Jangri.
Thus, a local man from Battagram decided to build the cable car. Locals said that it would take only four minutes to reach Batangi, from where they would take a two-hour drive to reach the nearest market. On the day of the unfortunate incident, the cable car had already made four trips, and on its fifth trip the cable broke.
Anwaar ul Haq Kakar, the acting Pakistan PM, expressed that he was relieved that all the children had been successfully rescued. He also appreciated the efforts of the military, rescue department, local people, and the district administration. To learn more about the incident, watch Hanging by a Wire on Paramount+.
Hanging by a Wire will release on October 28, 2026, on Paramount+ in the US.
Follow SoapCentral for more updates on Hanging by a Wire.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
