Six children and two adults are still trapped at an altitude of more than 270 meters after a cable car broke down in Pakistan.

(CNN) – Urgent rescue efforts are underway in Pakistan to rescue six children and two adults trapped in a cable car suspended 274 meters above a mountainous area in the northwest of the country.

The children were on their way to school in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when a cable car snapped at 9 am local time on Tuesday, according to Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

District deputy commissioner Tanweer Rahman said an observation helicopter arrived at the cable car site first, before a larger helicopter arrived to make sure there was enough space to transfer all those rescued.

Earlier, a local government official said that eight children were trapped with adults at an altitude of 365 metres.

The cable car connects two communities in the area and is operated by two cables, one of which broke, according to rescue official Bilal Ahmed Faizi.

Pakistan’s interim Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar has ordered the immediate closure of all “rickety and substandard cable cars,” according to a statement from his office.

Many children living in remote and mountainous areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa rely on cable cars to get to and from school. Some lack regular maintenance and can be a risky mode of transport.