Astonishing footage shows how Pakistani children were forced to cling on while inches from falling 1,200ft to their deaths in a cramped cable car for 16 hours before they were rescued.

Drone footage obtained by the BBC shows the passengers holding on as the carriage hangs precariously at an angle high above the remote Allai valley in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

One of the passengers is then seen using a zip wire to reach safety.

All of those inside the cable car, six children and two adults were saved during a rescue operation on Tuesday that included zip-wire experts and a military helicopter.

The owner of the cable car company was later arrested by police on several charges, including negligence and endangering valuable lives.

Schoolchildren who were rescued from the broken cable car said on Wednesday they repeatedly feared they were about to die during the 16-hour ordeal, despite attempts by their parents to reassure them over mobile phones.

Several of the children, who had been on their way to school Tuesday when one of the car's cables snapped, also appealed for a school and bridge to be built in their village so they wouldn't have to ride the cable car in the future.

One of the youngest was grabbed by a commando attached to a helicopter by rope, while others were lowered to the ground in a makeshift chairlift constructed from a wooden bed frame and ropes.

'I had heard stories about miracles, but I saw a miraculous rescue happening with my own eyes,' said 15-year-old Osama Sharif, one of those rescued.

Osama was headed to school on Tuesday to receive the results of his final exam when one of the cables snapped.

'We suddenly felt a jolt, and it all happened so suddenly that we thought all of us were going to die,' he said in a telephone interview.

Some of those aboard had mobile phones and started making calls, with worried parents trying to reassure the children.

'They were telling us don't worry, help is coming,' he said.

After several hours, the passengers saw helicopters flying in the air.

On Wednesday, police arrested Gul Zarin, the owner of the cable car, on charges of ignoring safety measures.

Local authorities in the northwestern mountainous regions said they would close all cable cars believed to be unsafe.

Thousands of people turned out to watch the risky operation on Tuesday.

At one stage, a rope lowered from a helicopter swayed wildly as a child, secured by a harness, was pulled up.

The air currents churned up by the whirling blades risked weakening the only cable preventing the cable car from crashing to the bottom of the river canyon.

'We cried, and tears were in our eyes, as we feared the cable car would go down,' Osama said.

After sunset, with the helicopters no longer able to fly, rescuers shifted tactics.

They used a makeshift chairlift to approach the cable car using the one cable that was still intact, local police chief Nazir Ahmed said.

Shouts of 'God is great' erupted as the cha