Original subtitles

We are at the foothills of one of the most

beautiful areas of the world.

This is my home. I grew up here. It's heaven on earth.

But it's isolated, and it's not easy.

People walk the mountains.

They don't have roads.

For them, life is in between those mountains.

Cable car in this area is their lifeline.

Children use these cable cars to go to their schools.

So they build these cable cars,

it is entirely done by the locals.

But on a daily basis, they are playing with their lives,

playing with the lives of their children.

Anything could happen.

Eight people, including six children,

are trapped inside a cable car in the Pakistani Himalayas

after one of its mile-long cables snapped.

The situation is critical!

The situation is critical!

The fate of those eight people

is relying on that one single cable.

There are eight of us up here. We're desperate.

It was terrible.

They are going to die.

For God's sake, do something!

This is the first time

I've seen videos from that day.

I feel like I'm reliving that grief again.

It's like reopening an old wound.

The pain just comes back.

Irfan is our biggest worry, but our greatest love.

It was about 7:30 in the morning.

Irfan and the boys had got onboard the cable car.

And I heard screams.

The cable car goes from here.

It had reached halfway when one of the cables snapped.

So that cable snapped,

and then this other cable here also snapped.

It sounded like an explosion!

I will never forget that sound.

It'll ring in my ears until the day I die.

My son Rizwan was going to school.

Rizwan was the youngest in the cable car.

He is my only son.

We had no idea of how they could be rescued.

Eight of them were trapped up there.

We had no hope of them surviving.

Nobody knew what would happen next,

and those in the cable car were between life and death.

As you can see,

this cable car has flipped over.

The situation is critical!

Share this video as much as possible.

It was quite early in the morning.

The first information flash on our screens.

Spread this news everywhere.

The locals, they started taking pictures and videos,

and they started posting it on Facebook.

Share this video,

so the authorities in Allai know what's going on.

Eight people were stranded up there,

six of them school kids.

We're completely helpless.

It was showing the name of my area, Allai.

If you are seeing the name of your area

is flashing on the screens,

you would definitely try a bit harder...

...to get it into the limelight.

So I geared up, and I started traveling to that area.

For years, governments have neglected these people.

And if I'm not there,

if I'm not making the news about this incident,

then I know the police is not going to be there.

The local administration would not bother to be there.

Authorities would be moved

if there is a media person to get them moved.

This is actually the point where I started covering the story.

So the whole day we have been covering that incident,

everyone was wondering what is going to happen next.

It was almost 1,000 feet in the air.

Two of the cables had snapped,

leaving it hanging by a single cable,

which was holding the weight of the cable car,

and eight people inside it.

No one knew how long that cable could hold for

before it too might snap.

I knew that Irfan

was up there with the other kids,

but I couldn't see him from where I was.

I just kept telling myself that the cable wouldn't snap.

You can see many people here, but all are helpless.

They have no solution.

I was getting information from the locals.

They said, "You are also from this area.

You should tell everyone.

Tell the world that we want help."

Here is a footage

showing the trapped children.

Our senior reporter, Sumaira Khan,

has joined us from the scene.

Sumaira, what updates do you have?

God forbid if this cable car falls,

I say this with a heavy heart, that the chances

of this cable car falling are increasing because

the cable car is now only hanging by a single wire.

And then something happened

that transformed the way we could communicate the story.

There was a local drone operator on scene,

and he began to share his footage.

It was incredible.

To see them so clearly hanging up there

was both terrifying and extraordinary.

This footage, it played a key role

to get international media's attention.

Look at the screen.

This is what's happening right now in Pakistan.

Eight people, including six children,

are trapped in that chairlift.

Some breaking news now in Pakistan.

But it is unclear if a rescue is underway.

It was all over the international media.

A lone cable car hangs 900 feet over a ravine.

It's a race against time to save the passengers

who were said to have no drinking water...

There are eight people,

including six children, suspended over a valley.

They are about 1,000 feet up in the air there,

and those lives, Meg, hanging in the balance...

All of a sudden, there was a spotlight on

this part of Northern Pakistan that had never happened before.

Of course, these children were just on their way to school.

And this cable car ride,

which was surprising when I learned about this,

by itself is part of their daily and weekly lives.

The local administration that was unbothered

in the initial stage,

they came to know that it is not just confined

to the boundaries of Pakistan now.

This high-wire drama watched by the world.

These boys here clinging on for dear life.

So it actually triggered the authorities

to expedite the whole process.

My name is Sonia Shamroz Khan,

and I'm district police chief.

I was commanding that particular district.

Policing is my passion.

Policing is literally my passion.

My husband used to say,

"Even when you're sleeping,

you're dreaming of being a cop!"

I love my work.

Every channel, even the international channels,

were covering live coverage of the event.

Our concern was to start rescue operation as soon as possible

before anything bad could happen.

I've three beautiful daughters,

and I can understand if your kids are hanging

thousands of feet in the sky,

it's a difficult thing.

I was coordinating all these efforts,

and I was in the main headquarter.

Turn that radio off.

Nazir, he was basically my second in command.

Sonia is a very good officer.

She thinks carefully before making decisions.

She ordered me to get there right away.

Within half an hour,

they basically reached there.

But I told him just to send videos,

just to find out what is the situation over there.

And it was very, like, alarming for me

when I saw the videos and the clips.

They shared a few video clips

of them from inside the cable car.

It brought it home so vividly.

So there was no solution

that they could be retrieved alive.

They are going to die.

We were all worried and felt helpless,

just watching and waiting.

It was such a stressful situation.

The crowd is quite charged.

This is DSP Nazir.

There was chaos and panic in the air.

People were already

very anxious and frustrated.

Why they are not being rescued?

Why the rescue operation is delayed?

The more it was getting delayed,

the more it was getting scarier for the parents of those kids.

Believe me, I was just a complete mess.

I had lost my mind. I was panicking.

Please save these children's lives.

Who, from your family, is stuck in this cable car?

My son and my brother are stuck in it.

The locals decided not to wait for the authorities.

Government officials are

begging for patience, but the villagers are

furious with the delays...

and one local man has climbed on the cable

to carry out his own rescue mission.

Locals, basically, they wanted any method out of their concern

and out of their love for the kids, they were desperate.

He was carrying with him

a very strange-looking contraption,

with which he hoped to save the kids.

It was chaotic.

It was a dangerous plan,

but what else could we do?

I sent orders to get him off the cable

as soon as possible.

So my first instruction was for these civilians

not to experiment.

They just told us not to attempt a rescue.

The authorities would come up with a plan.

In the background, we were exploring many options.

My main concern was that any rescue attempt had to be safe.

We could not risk the lives of those kids stranded up there.

Locals kept on trying to come up with their own plans

for a rescue operation.

Without our knowledge, they contacted a cable car operator

who had done many such, like, rescue operations in the past.

His name was Sahib Khan.

This is our home.

This is my father. This is our cow.

We have a small company called Koka and Company.

This is our card.

Anytime there is an accident, call this number.

I build cable cars.

And we carry out emergency rescues too.

We are known as "Mandghan" or "Sky Pirates".

All the locals call us this because we help people.

We save people. That's why they call us "Mandghan".

I know how to operate all the cable machinery.

I've carried across 45 tons of weight on the cables.

I've been doing this since I was a kid.

My grandfather did this work, as did my great-grandfather.

I've worked with cable cars.

I've done much harder work before. This is nothing.

I use a pulley, harness and rope.

The equipment we use is cheap.

The pulley I use is worth about $15.

This is very dangerous work.

After they called me, I drove to the site with my cousin.

We got there about 11:00 a.m.

It was a very tense scene, and a lot of people had gathered.

Clear the way! Clear the way!

Move back! Move back!

The locals were very happy to see them.

Sahib Khan just wanted to rescue kids

using his conventional or his traditional method.

And he was very, very confident. Like, "I'll rescue all of them."

Our main objective was to keep the cable intact...

to move it on the wire.

We didn't want to take risks

by adding in another person on that wire.

So that was not an option for us at that point.

They told me not to

even think of touching the cable,

because there was too much weight on it already.

I could have started my operation

as soon as I got there.

I think the reason they stopped me is because I am poor.

They were like, "How is this local dude going to do this?"

It was not about his social status,

or it's not about any other thing.

It was like, we didn't want to take risk.

What if he had failed?

What the crowd didn't know was that all this time,

we had been coordinating with army officials

to organize a rescue operation using their helicopters.

Before midday, I finally got word

that these helicopters were now on their way to the cable car.

I've been a rescue pilot for almost 20 years now.

This was one of the most tricky, I would say.

I was actually the first one to reach on site.

I was given very clear-cut order that go, locate, reconnoiter...

...devise a plan.

I had all my hopes set on the rescue helicopter.

When the first helicopter came, it didn't achieve much.

Right now, one helicopter is circling around.

So far, there has been no success.

People don't understand that

the first mission was basically a reconnaissance mission.

That there was no plan of evacuation.

It was basically how to go about it.

The first pass was to determine the wind direction.

That was a huge challenge, actually.

If there is wind, then everything is compounded.

The wire is also black.

It's very difficult to locate wires in air.

My main aim was that all individuals came back

because it was such a tricky situation

that any small little exuberance or carelessness

would have led to disaster, actually.

The helicopter got very close to the cable car,

and then a soldier came down on a rope.

Once I came, like, really close overhead,

the cable car, it started to rock.

It went into a rocking motion.

They couldn't get too close to the cable car

because the downdraft would overturn the car.

They tried many times, but couldn't get any closer.

Otherwise, they would have fallen to their deaths.

They attempted many times.

They would go near,

but immediately they would withdraw themselves.

The helicopter left,

and we feared the rescue had failed.

That's when we lost all hope.

Another helicopter has arrived.

Then a second helicopter arrived.

After continuous hovering of two hours,

we saw that the choppers are lowering something

on the top of the cable car.

A person is about to reach the cable car.

It seems he gave them something.

I think it might be harnesses.

Once the harnesses were given,

they could actually hook themselves.

And then they could be brought up.

You can see another cable

below the helicopter.

That cable is causing all the problems.

There was a wire.

It was around 10 to 15 feet above.

This is a very dangerous situation.

If the helicopter blades hit this cable, it could be fatal.

So it was, like, extreme risk involved.

Extreme risk.

Now the helicopter is between

the upper and lower cables.

The helicopter hovered above the cable car

and threw down a rope.

The rescue cable, there was always a chance

that even that our own cable

would actually get entangled with the cable,

which was above the cable car.

Marcus, this is one of those

heart-pounding circumstances.

What can you tell us about the latest

on this rescue operation?

Yeah. Diane, when you hear those details about the air pressure

from the helicopters causing the car to sway,

and it really gives you a sense

of just how delicate this operation is.

Finally, the boys got hold of that rope.

In that moment,

you got a call from Irfan?

Yes.

He said, "Dad, whether I live or die today, I'm going to jump.

These boys aren't putting on the harnesses

because they are afraid.

I am putting it on and jumping."

"Either I will die or I will make it alive."

Irfan put the harness on wrong,

but it got stuck here,

so he held onto the rope with just his hands.

- My God! - Yes.

I watched him jump, and then I closed my eyes.

I was terrified just watching him dangling there.

I just had my hands like this and thought, "What is going on?"

When they told me that he'd made it into helicopter,

that's when I opened my eyes.

My name is Irfan.

I just closed my eyes and jumped.

I was very scared.

The horror we experienced up there still lingers in my mind.

We were halfway across

when the cable car made a terrifying noise.

We thought we were going to die.

I still remember that day.

I cried so much that day. It haunts me.

He still had life to live, and God protected him.

Your kids are the reason for life. God's most precious gift.

Most of my worries were gone,

but I kept thinking about the others still stranded

in the cable car.

It was quite exciting, actually, you know.

The plan, that it worked.

Our experiment is successful.

Our method is at least working.

So we'll use the same method to rescue the remaining kids.

They were trying to lower that rope again.

Suddenly, the worst thing happens.

That rope gets tangled with the cable.

They desperately tried to free that rope.

As the helicopter moved,

the cable car started swinging.

So they had to cut the rope.

The entire country's eyes have been on this operation...

They are losing light rapidly.

All the focus is on trying to get the people remaining off

before they lose light.

It's going to be a sundown in about two hours from now,

which is going to make this rescue even more, uh, difficult

as the sun sets.

Sunset was approaching,

and I knew that it was going to be impossible

for the helicopters to continue their mission in the darkness,

so I was exploring other options to rescue these kids.

My name is Muhammad Ali Swati.

People call me Adventure Boy because I love adventure.

I knew I did not want a regular job.

I love fashion and I love modeling

because in my family, I am best looking,

and I have a handsome body.

I have two businesses.

The first one is a successful gym.

And also I am the owner of world's highest zipline.

I believe he was a good option for us.

That's why we... we called him.

I said, "Yes, I am available for this operation.

You don't worry about this."

I knew that I cannot do this rescue operation alone.

So that's why I called Ilyas.

The boss and I come from the same village,

and I have a very good relationship with him.

So when the boss said that this needs to be done...

...I was in one hundred percent.

For my zipline business,

we use the top safety equipment in the world.

Ilyas and I tested our harnesses, lanyards,

and most importantly, our pulleys.

Our pulleys cost thousands of dollars.

We use this for zip-lining.

This goes on top of the wire, and then it moves.

It is proper gear.

So, what was the difference between

Ali Swati and Sahib Khan?

I mean, they were both proposing the same method

to rescue the kids.

As far as Ali is concerned,

he had equipment, money, experience.

Relatively, he was a better option.

He was in another district,

and we had to coordinate his traveling as well.

At 5:00 p.m., a heli arrived,

and then we were started our journey towards cable car.

When they call me for the rescue operation,

I thought about my parents.

When I was younger,

I applied in Pakistan Army like my brothers.

I want to make my family proud...

but unfortunately, I received a letter I am not fit for army.

This letter was destroying me.

I felt I had let everyone down.

I was upset because I would have preferred him

to join the army.

I was worried he wouldn't

do as well as his brothers.

Ali is the youngest, and he was a bit different.

He wasn't the best at school. Thank God he's charming.

As the time was passing by,

things were becoming very difficult.

By sunset, we were able to rescue only one kid.

The government is failing.

From, like, eight, ten hours, we are trying our best,

and we are not delivering what we should be doing.

It was getting difficult for me.

With darkness approaching, the helicopters

have been forced to land.

This could mean they're going to be

stranded up there throughout the night.

I was there on ground. The weather was getting cold.

I knew that if the kids have to spend the night

out there in the valley with the wind crossing,

that would be, can be dangerous for them till morning.

So it was... It was a scary situation.

The cable car, it was hanging on just one wire.

The remaining one could have been snapped any time.

That was the risk. It was just that we could

just pray that it just hold on.

And obviously, the relatives and the parents of the kids,

they also realize that time is going by,

and only one kid has been rescued so far.

So they were worried. They were the most difficult to handle.

We were yelling at the authorities

to sort this out.

My trust in them completely vanished.

The people were pissed at the authorities.

Now that they had failed, who could help them?

Sahib Khan and his cousin hiked

to the other side of the valley,

where there were fewer authorities,

and decided to get on with it.

When the helicopters failed,

I was even more determined.

We were totally unaware of this fact when he went there.

He just went by himself.

So the first thing in my mind was, like,

"How come? He was not allowed."

I started at 6:00 p.m.

I was terrified.

When I was making my way across,

there were strong winds that scared the life out of me.

This man is taking a huge risk.

It's getting darker.

Once we reached the valley, it was starting to get dark.

When I reached site,

at that time, I am running with my bags, with my equipment.

When I reached the top, it was completely dark.

Everybody was shouting. It was complete chaos.

And they all are very hopeless at that time.

And then I checked the condition of wire. It was finished.

It could break at any moment.

The further I went, the scarier it got.

It took me about 40 minutes to get there.

Showing incredible courage,

one person has reached the cable car.

He is a local man.

The kids were in a very bad state.

They looked terrified.

I chose Niaz because he was closest to me in the cable car.

I belted him up, and attached him to the pulley.

Once I'd attached him, I called my cousin,

and told him to start pulling him back.

So Niaz went back by himself?

Yes, Niaz went back alone.

In darkness all by himself?

They just pulled him back?

All I kept thinking was,

"I just hope nothing goes wrong."

Did you speak to Niaz

when he was in the cable car?

Yes, I spoke with Niaz.

He said, "I might die today."

"If I have made any mistakes, please forgive me."

I said to him...

..."I forgive you."

Wait, wait!

Stay back! Stay back!

There was pure joy

when my feet finally hit the ground.

My body wasn't functioning at all.

Then they took me to a room

where I passed out for almost half an hour.

He was very distressed.

We had been so worried about him,

but we were overjoyed that God brought him back safely.

Our concern now was the others still stranded.

When we got a call saying Niaz was safe, we were delighted.

The boys suddenly had hope.

We were totally unaware of this fact

when he went there and he rescued the kid.

So after that, we asked him not to take risk with his own life,

and as well as with the kids.

After I rescued the boy, I got a call,

and was told to shut the operation down.

So even though you saved a child,

they still stopped you?

Yes.

I was really upset about that.

By 7:30 p.m.,

six people were still stranded up there.

We were only thinking about the worst.

Honestly, telling you.

Two children have been rescued from a cable car

dangling 900 feet over a valley in Northwest Pakistan,

as rescuers try to get to others on board.

It felt like the kids are living on borrowed time.

I can still feel the utter despair

I felt that day.

The hope here is that

the remaining cable won't snap,

so that is more reason to focus on the land operation

that they're doing right now and through the night.

You've to wonder if they're going to be able

to get to all of them.

I told Ali, "Zip up and we'll put you on the pulley,

harness the kids in the pulleys, and then you bring them back."

He never hesitated for a second.

He's such a bold and brave person.

At that time, we have many issues.

Main issue is communication.

There was now no cell phone service,

and at this time, the army had no charged walkie-talkies.

We had to figure out a plan,

so that we could communicate to the ground

while we were out there.

The locals have set up a rope here.

The basic plan was I have one torch,

and I will signal people on ground

with the help of torch to start pulling the rope,

and then they pull me and the boy to safety.

So this is what we decided before sending him in,

that we can communicate through these lights.

They are two guys who really risked their life

on the cable and they went there.

When me and Ilyas started our journey on a wire...

we don't know what is the now strength of wire.

After 50 feet, I saw the condition of wire.

Wire was very damaged.

The further we went,

the worse the condition of the cable became.

It could snap at any second.

I said, "Sir, the cable is screwed,

maybe we shouldn't take the risk."

Ilyas said to me, "Let's go back."

And I said, "No, Ilyas, I can't.

This is very difficult, I know. But I have to save these kids."

He had this fire in him,

and it sparked something in me too.

That's why we went for it.

At that time,

I had thousands of thoughts in my mind.

Terrifying thoughts, and the darkness

made it even more frightening.

The noise of the pulley on the rusty cable

filled me with dread.

The cable was vibrating. The sound was awful.

There was just every kind of fear you can imagine.

Maybe if I started in a day,

maybe I take five to ten minutes to reach the cable car.

But because of darkness and the condition of cable,

so we took 30 minutes.

After that, we see the cable car clearly.

The wire was shaking violently because we were on it.

The cable car was swaying too.

They screamed at us.

Kids are shouting. They are abusing us.

"Why are you putting more weight on a wire? Are you idiot?

Why you want to kill us?"

Then I reach cable car, one man is sitting on top of cable car.

I asked, "Who are you?"

He said, "I'm Sahib Khan."

And then I say, "Brother, this is not safe.

You please come down."

Then he replied, "You don't worry about me."

Sahib Khan and me are fighting,

and I said, "You are idiot, you are bloody motherfucker."

He swore at me. He was getting pissy with me.

Then I said, "Brother, this is not the time to fight,

and I think you just help us now."

Ilyas and Sahib Khan got down into the cable car...

I started filming some video.

Their faces were pale. They were terrified.

They were in bad shape.

But with us there, they started to feel some hope.

Ilyas.

Then I tell Ilyas, "Put the harness on the boys."

Well done, Ilyas. Stay calm.

Sir, everyone has been clipped in.

- Everyone been clipped in? - Yes.

Okay, check it all again.

And attach two of them to separate pulleys.

After the completion of safety checks,

I said to Ilyas, "Attach the boys one by one."

We attached three boys to me,

and we got onto the cable

to make our journey back to the ground.

I hoped the rope would get me across.

But that rope became my biggest problem.

Ilyas had to give three blinks of the flashlight

to signal I could be pulled back.

Ilyas gave three blinks.

We kept blinking the light, but nothing happened.

I don't know why they are not pulling me.

The rope that was supposed to pull them back

got stuck in a tree branch.

A man climbed the tree to cut the branch.

All I was thinking was, "If they don't pull us back,

we will be left hanging here all night."

Then after 30 minutes,

I decided that now I pull myself with my hands.

That was very difficult for me,

pulling myself with three children.

The cable was on a 20 percent incline,

so I had to work twice as hard.

As I pulled myself forward,

nearly 50 feet of rope was bunching up beneath me.

So I grabbed the hanging rope,

and began to roll it around my arm.

I struggled, but managed to cover around 400 or 500 feet.

But I knew I couldn't let go,

or I would fly back and smash into the cable car.

After 90 minutes,

I was exhausted.

I let go.

I went backwards at high speed.

The cable car shook violently.

We were screaming.

We were going to hit the cable car.

We all are going to die.

But suddenly, we stopped.

We crashed into each other, hitting our heads.

I found out later that the trees had stopped us.

The rope got caught up in all the trees,

and it acted like a braking system.

The cabin swayed for a bit, then stopped.

We are going to die because of these guys.

They were definitely very scared.

I tried reassuring them. You can see in the video,

I took pictures of them, and we took selfies.

It's really chaotic.

They started pulling the rope.

When they started pulling us back,

I felt a jolt,

and thanked God that someone was pulling the rope.

But when they started pulling us,

I didn't have the energy to free the rope around my arm.

The more they pulled,

the more the rope tightened around my hand.

I felt like my hand might be severed, and I'd start bleeding.

I started panicking, thinking I was going to die.

The people who pull me,

they don't know my hand is stuck in the rope.

I was shouting, "Please leave the rope."

But no one can hear us.

As we neared the ground, they obviously heard my screams...

because they suddenly let go of the rope.

This time we went backward even faster.

We thought, that's it, they're dead.

I'm full of fear. But again, we stopped.

We were this close to the cable car.

Then they pulled the rope again.

Slowly this time.

Take it easy! Don't get emotional!

Don't mess it up now!

Mashallah, mashallah, mashallah.

There was my son, Rizwanullah, and my brother, Gul Faraz.

And there was Sher Nawaz.

I was overjoyed.

I cried with happiness.

People are hugging me.

People are kissing me, and gave me a lot of love,

and their expressions is very lovely.

People were celebrating.

We were totally detached from reality during the whole ordeal.

I was the eldest.

All of us were crying, but the younger ones cried more.

I tried, but nothing comforted them.

Gul Faraz was there for us. He reassured us

that we would survive.

I was the youngest in the cable car.

I was just crying continuously.

There was nothing else I could do.

I vowed that if God saved me, I would sacrifice a goat.

God saved me, so I fulfilled that vow.

There were still people stranded out in the cable car.

Ilyas, Sahib Khan, and three boys.

I knew that my arm was fractured.

There was no way I could make it back to the cable car.

I made a decision with the army

to send a Special Forces guy onto the cable

to help with the rescue.

This commando thankfully had a walkie-talkie.

We could communicate with him while he was out there.

When he reached me, I hooked the kids to the wire.

And what about Sahib Khan?

When I was about to leave with the three kids,

I asked if he wanted to come with us.

But he said, "No, I'm going back on my own."

"I came by myself and can go back on my own too."

I didn't want him to say that he'd rescued me.

I was left alone.

That was a relatively easy journey for us

because we were constantly in touch on the walkie-talkie.

God has willed it.

Three children.

The moment the cable snapped was terrifying.

But when the helicopters left,

we didn't know whether they would come back.

And someone told us it was too dark to continue,

and they would start again at 10:00 a.m.

That was a very difficult time.

That day, every single moment felt critical.

Every second was tense,

not knowing if we'd be saved

or if we would all come crashing down.

So some good news tonight from Pakistan.

The joyful shouts "Praise God"

as an unlikely rescue operation ends in stunning success.

It was a very challenging operation,

and it was accomplished miraculously, I would say.

That was a miracle, I would say.

Soldiers and locals worked together

after more than 14 hours.

A harrowing ordeal for children just trying to go to school.

Obviously, it was one of the happiest moment of my life.

No doubt, it's one of the happiest

and one of the toughest days of my life.

All is well that ends well.

Like in this particular case, locals, media, police, army.

Every person from every walk of life,

they all came together.

I believe if we come together, we can move mountains.

Ilyas, I gave him a tight hug,

and I literally at that time crying.

Even now, as I tell you this, I am tearing up.

My feelings for Ilyas were such that...

I mean, I just don't have the words.

I never cry normally.

When I made it home to my village,

everyone was holding up flower garlands,

chanting and picking me up.

My father was really happy too.

What Ali achieved made us hold our heads up high.

He told me I had made him incredibly proud.

At the end, I was the last person on the cable car.

I had no equipment with me

because I had given it all to the kids to get back.

My cousin came to get me, and he brought all the gear.

I thought, "Thank God my cousin came to get me."

That made me happy.

He did what was never imagined.

There are moments in everyone's life that enough is enough,

we have to do either this way or that way,

by hook or by crook.

That is something I really respect.

People didn't really know me before.

Now people show me a lot of love when they meet me,

and that makes me really happy.

And now you're a hero!

I'm not a hero.

I would just like to put them through good school and college.

I have never had this experience before,

where people recognize me and tell me I'm a hero.

That means a lot to me.

That cable car is abandoned now.

It's still hanging in the air

like a souvenir for every one of us.

The authorities haven't replaced the cable car.

We see it all the time. When we walk past it

the memories come rushing back.

Even if our village had a working cable car again,

I wouldn't get in it.

There is a fear in my heart.

The other day he saw a video of the incident

and started crying.

I was more sad than him.

It is hard to see your children in pain.

Rizwan still has problems.

Sometimes he gets nightmares and wakes up at night.

He relives the incident in his dreams.

Whenever I pass by the cable car and look at it,

I still feel scared.

When we were stuck inside, we had no idea the story

was going live across the country

and everyone was following.

I think the media helped.

Without that attention, we might not be alive today.

Sometimes when I'm dreaming, or when I'm alone,

or even when I'm with someone from that day,

it all comes back.

I remember when we were in the cable car

and we were asking God to save us.

We all feel like we've been given a second chance at life.