At least three people drowned after a chairlift collapsed and fell into the Indus River in Seo Tehsil of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Upper Kohistan District on Friday, officials said.

Rescue 1122 spokesperson Abdur Rehman told Dawn.com that the chairlift fell into the river after the foundations supporting the aerial lift collapsed on both sides. The foundations of the manually operated cable car had become weak due to a very high flow of water in the river over the last two days, he explained.

Dasu Station House Officer (SHO) Khalilur Rehman also confirmed the incident, stating that “three persons drowned in the river after the fall”.

He said the chairlift was being used by the residents of Kama village and it was connected with Dasu city.

Rescue 1122 identified the victims as Muhammad Sher, Fidaur Rehman, and Mir Alam — all of whom were residents of Kaiga — and continued searching for the bodies. The victims’ relatives told police they were returning to the village from Dasu via the cable car when it fell.

Kohistan administration also called a Rescue 1122 team from Shangla to participate in the search, while the high flow of water in the Indus River hampered the rescue operation.

Make-shift cable cars are commonly found in many parts of KP and Gilgit-Baltistan, connecting different towns and villages where roads or bridges cannot be built due to the terrain. People use these cable cars as a means of transport.

Last month on July 23, a man drowned in the river Indus in the Bisham area while trying to rescue his son, who was stranded on a chairlift.

Eyewitness Mansoor Ali Khan told Dawn.com that a 13-year-old boy was stranded in the chairlift over the Indus river and his father, Muhammad Aziz, was trying to rescue his son through a rope.

Khan said the rope through which the father was trying to rescue his son snapped, causing the former to fall into the river and be swept away by the strong currents.

He said that the boy remained stuck in the chairlift and was rescued by locals after hectic efforts.

Last year, eight people, including six children, in KP’s Battagram were left stranded in a chairlift when the wires of the lift snapped. The chairlift remained dangling in the middle of a deep ravine surrounded by towering mountains and a rocky surface along with the Jhangri River for hours before the army rescued all passengers with the help of the locals.