bOne person died and ten others were injured in a cable car accident in the southern Turkish city of Antalya. Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca wrote on platform X late on Friday that the cabin of the Tünektepe cable car had crashed. 184 people were trapped in the remaining 29 cable car cabins, 30 of whom have now been rescued. The health condition of the injured is not serious. They are in the hospital. Rescue operations continued.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said one of the cable car's gondolas fell onto a rocky area when the pole collapsed. This led to death and injury. Five people in the cabin were rescued by helicopter. According to the Minister of the Interior, nearly 110 rescue workers were sent to the accident site.
According to state news agency Anadolu, the cable car was particularly busy due to the sugar festival at the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. One of the masts of the cable car fell over, the cabin crashed into it and fell on the rocky terrain. Fire, police and rescue teams are in the area.
The mayor of Antalya, Muhittin Böcek, wrote to X early on Saturday morning that the rescue work of the stranded citizens will continue. “We will continue to work continuously until all evacuations can be carried out safely.” Anadolu reported that during the rescue operation, a basket was brought from the helicopter into the cabins, into which people had to climb.
According to the operator, the cable car has been in use since 2017 and consists of 36 cabins. It transports its guests to the top of Tünektepe at a height of 605 meters. The journey takes about nine minutes. There is room for six people in the cabin. It can carry 1200 people per hour. The summit overlooks Antalya and the Mediterranean Sea. Antalya is a popular tourist destination.