ISTANBUL (AP) — More than 40 people were buried inside a cable car on a mountain in southern Turkey on Saturday, 19 hours after a pod hit a power pole and exploded, killing one person and injuring seven others. was left behind.
The accident occurred around 5:30pm on Friday at the Tunektepe cable car on the outskirts of the Mediterranean city of Antalya, during the busy Eid al-Fitr holiday. Rescue operations for stranded people continued through the night.
“128 nationals in 16 pods were rescued under difficult conditions,” Oke Memis, head of Turkey’s search and rescue agency AFAD, told media Saturday morning. “Evacuation of the other 43 people housed in the remaining eight pods is underway.”
He added that rescue teams hope to complete the rescue operation before dark.
Turkiye, Antalya – April 13: A coast guard member is suspended in the air after a cable car cabin collides with a fallen cable car pole at the Tunektepe cable car facility in the Konyaalti district of Turkiye Antalya. Participating in the evacuation of the cabin. April 13, 2024. (Photo by Orhan Cicek/Anadolu, Getty Images)
Officials said the casualties occurred when the pod hit a utility pole and exploded, sending passengers falling to the mountainside below.
The state-run Anadolu Agency identified the deceased as a 54-year-old Turkish man. The injured included six Turkish nationals and one Kyrgyz citizen, including two children. They were rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter.
Images published in Turkish media showed a wrecked car swinging on a cable that had come loose on a rocky slope as medical workers tended to the injured.
A total of 543 first responders and seven helicopters are participating in the rescue operation, including AFAD, coast guard, fire and mountaineering teams from across Turkey, officials said.
Antalya, Turkiye – April 12: Rescue teams, fire brigade and police respond to reports that one person died and seven others were injured after a cable car cabin fell in the Konyaalti district of Antalya, Turkiye in April. , medical teams carried out rescue operations. 12, 2024. The cabin fell unexpectedly, but the exact cause is still unknown. (Photo by Hatice Ozdemir Tosun/Anadolu, Getty Images)
Families flocked to coastal resorts in Turkey on Friday, the last day of a three-day holiday marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
A cable car transports tourists from Konyaalti Beach to a restaurant and observation deck atop Tunektepe, 618 meters (2,010 feet) above sea level. It is operated by the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality. The cable car line was completed in 2017 and undergoes a major inspection at the beginning of the year, as well as regular inspections throughout the year.
The Antalya Chief Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation. An expert committee including mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, and health and safety experts was assigned to investigate the cause of the accident.
