This is the dramatic moment a rescue team attempted to winch one of six children stuck in a cable car in Pakistan - but they were foiled by weight concerns on the line.

Footage shows how one of the rescue team was lowered to the cable car to try and carefully remove a child but they backed away, afraid that the extra pressure on the line could cause the cable car to rock.

Officials said helicopters were grounded because 'pressure can break the last rope of the chairlift'.

‘We have provided meals and water to the stranded students, and thinking of other rescue options,' said Deputy Commissioner Sonia Shamroz.

Air rescue teams are battling to free the six children and two adults stuck in the rickety cable car.

The youngsters were traveling to school in the mountainous region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when the chairlift's cable snapped at 9 a.m. local time some 900ft above the ground.

Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said a helicopter was able to reach the location of the lift. However, reaching the youngster in the lift is a more difficult operation.

Officials said chairlift connects two communities in the region and runs on two cables. One of the cables snapped, causing the chairlift to become stranded.

Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar ordered all 'dilapidated and non-compliant chairlifts' to close immediately.