ISTANBUL (AP) – More than 40 people remained stranded in cable cars high above a mountain in southern Turkey on Saturday, 19 hours after one pod hit a pole and burst open, killing one person and injuring seven.
The accident occurred around 5:30 p.m. Friday at the Tunektepe cable car just outside the Mediterranean city of Antalya during the busy Eid al-Fitr holiday. Operations to rescue the stranded people continued throughout the night.
“128 citizens in 16 pods have been rescued under difficult conditions,” Okay Memis, director of the Turkish search and rescue agency AFAD, told media Saturday morning. “The rescue of 43 others in eight remaining pods is ongoing.”
He added that rescuers hope to complete rescue operations before dark.
ANTALYA, TURKIYE – APRIL 13: A member of Coast Guard Command participates in evacuation work for the cabins suspended in the air after a cable car cabin crashed into a fallen cable car pole at the Tunektepe Cable Car Facility, Konyaalti district in Antalya, Turkiye on April 13, 2024.(Photo by Orhan Cicek/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The casualties occurred when a pod hit a pole and burst open, sending its passengers plummeting to the mountainside below, officials said.
State-run Anadolu Agency identified the deceased as a 54-year-old Turkish man. The injured were six Turkish citizens and one Kyrgyz national, including two children. They were rescued by Coast Guard helicopters.
Images in Turkish media showed the battered car swaying from dislodged cables on the side of the rocky mountain as medics tended the wounded.
A total of 543 first responders and seven helicopters are involved in the rescue operations, including teams from AFAD, the Coast Guard, firefighting teams and mountaineering teams from different parts of Turkey, officials said.
ANTALYA, TURKIYE – APRIL 12: Rescue teams, fire brigade, police, medical team conduct rescue operation after it was reported that 1 person died and 7 are injured as a result of the cable car cabin falling in Konyaalti district of Antalya, Turkiye on April 12, 2024. The cabin fell unexpectedly, and the exact cause is yet to be determined. (Photo by Hatice Ozdemir Tosun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Friday was the final day of a three-day public holiday in Turkey marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which sees families flock to coastal resorts.
The cable car carries tourists from Konyaalti beach to a restaurant and viewing platform at the summit of the 618-meter (2,010-foot) Tunektepe peak. It is run by Antalya Metropolitan Municipality. The cable car line was completed in 2017 and receives a major inspection around the beginning of the year, as well as routine inspections throughout the year.
Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation. An expert commission including mechanical and electrical engineers and health and safety experts was assigned to determine the cause of the incident.
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