After the cable car accident in the southern Turkish coastal city of Antalya, which left one dead and ten injured, all of the people who were still stuck in the cabins were rescued. The last remaining of the 184 people initially stranded in the air was rescued on Saturday, said the head of the Afad disaster control authority, Okay Memis. This ended a rescue operation that lasted almost 24 hours.
One person was killed and ten others were injured in the accident on Friday evening. Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca wrote late Friday evening on the X platform (formerly Twitter) that a cabin on the Tünektepe cable car had crashed. People are trapped in the other cabins. 29 people had stayed in five cabins until Saturday afternoon. Dozens had previously been brought to safety. More than 600 emergency services were involved in the rescue operation.
Fallen masts cause disaster
Anadolu reported that one of the cable car’s masts fell, a cabin hit it and fell into rocky terrain. There was initially no information about the cause of the accident. During the rescue work, a basket was brought from a helicopter to the cabins and people had to climb into it, as can be seen in the photos. According to Anadolu, the cable car was particularly busy because of the sugar festival at the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. The television station Tele 1 showed how a child was brought to safety from one of the cabins.
Health Minister Koca initially wrote on Platform X late on Friday evening that 30 trapped people had been rescued. The health condition of the injured is not serious. They are in a hospital.
Investigations into the cause of the accident
Meanwhile, investigations into the cause of the accident are already underway. As Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc announced on Saturday on X, formerly Twitter, arrest warrants were issued against 13 people who are suspected of being partly responsible for the accident. Employees of the cable car operator were also among the suspects. The scene of the accident is also being examined by experts.
According to the operator, the cable car has been in operation since 2017 and consists of 36 cabins. It transports its guests to the summit of Tünektepe at a height of 605 meters. The approximately 1.7 kilometer long journey takes around nine minutes. There is space for six people in a cabin. 1200 people can be transported per hour. From the summit there is a view of Antalya and the Mediterranean. Antalya is a popular tourist destination.
