{"id":14049,"date":"2026-09-03T11:38:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T11:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/?p=14049"},"modified":"2026-09-03T11:38:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T11:38:38","slug":"battagram-chairlift-rescue-story-to-hit-pakistani-cinemas-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/?p=14049","title":{"rendered":"Battagram chairlift rescue story to hit Pakistani cinemas this year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What if your daily ride to school suddenly left you hanging 900 feet above the ground \u2014 with just one cable keeping you alive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s exactly what happened to eight people in Battagram\u2019s Allai Valley in August 2023 \u2014 a terrifying real-life rescue operation that is now being brought to the big screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Titled Hanging By A Wire<\/em>, the documentary explores the dramatic Battagram chairlift rescue, while also highlighting the region\u2019s underdevelopment, poor infrastructure and, most importantly, the courage of its local people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to Geo Digital<\/em>, producer, director and writer M Ali Naqvi said he wanted to take the story of these local heroes to a global audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that it was the first time that local people and the administration came together to save the lives of eight people trapped in a chairlift. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is an underdeveloped area, but the skill with which the locals carried out the rescue deserves immense appreciation,\u201d Naqvi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the documentary is also an attempt to draw attention to the children who continue to rely on chairlifts to get to school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want the system to become safer for these children. Through this film, we are also trying to work with NGOs on projects that can help improve the infrastructure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Battagram<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And there\u2019s another fascinating element to the film \u2014 much of what audiences will see is original footage recorded during the actual incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Naqvi, some of the drone footage was captured by a local jewellery shop owner, Faisal, while other footage was recorded by residents who were documenting the unfolding rescue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey wanted their voices, their helplessness and their efforts to reach the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Producer and writer Bilal Sami told Geo Digital<\/em> that stories about Pakistan\u2019s unsung local heroes rarely receive international attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why M Ali Naqvi and I wanted to tell this story \u2014 so the world can see the people who represent the positive side of Pakistan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The documentary has already travelled beyond Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Hanging By A Wire\u2019 is currently being screened in cinemas across the UK and US. The film also managed to make its mark at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival, where it stood out among thousands of films and received appreciation from audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now, the documentary is coming home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Hanging By A Wire\u2019 is set to release in cinemas across Pakistan later this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But before this story reached international screens, it began with one of the most terrifying rescue operations Pakistan had ever witnessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On August 23, 2023, two cables of a chairlift in Battagram suddenly snapped, leaving the lift dangling from a single cable nearly 900 feet above the ground, with eight people trapped inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pakistan Army personnel managed to rescue one person using a helicopter. To save the remaining seven, zipline experts Ali Swati and Sahib Khan were brought in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After nearly 12 hours of an intense rescue operation, all eight people were eventually brought to safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the story did not end with the rescue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to local residents, despite the massive attention the incident received, little has changed in the area\u2019s infrastructure. Chairlifts remain a crucial mode of transport for local communities \u2014 including children travelling to school \u2014 but the system continues to be unsafe and poorly developed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that is the story Hanging By A Wire<\/em> wants the world to see \u2014 not just the terrifying moment when eight lives were hanging by a thread, but the courage of the ordinary Pakistanis who refused to give up on them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What if your daily ride to school suddenly left you hanging 900 feet above the ground \u2014 with just one cable keeping you alive? That\u2019s..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-showbiz"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-09-03-163657.png",493,562,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-09-03-163657-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-09-03-163657-263x300.png",263,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-09-03-163657.png",493,562,false],"large":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-09-03-163657.png",493,562,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-09-03-163657.png",493,562,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-09-03-163657.png",493,562,false]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Showbiz<\/a>","tag_info":"Showbiz","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14049"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14052,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14049\/revisions\/14052"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}