Dozens rescued from fatal Turkey cable car accident after 23 hours
- One car burst open on Friday when a supporting pylon collapsed, killing one person and injuring 10, including children, when they plummeted onto the mountainside
- The accident involved the Tunektepe cable car near the Mediterranean city of Antalya. It carries tourists from a beach to a restaurant and viewing platform
Rescuers finished evacuating dozens of passengers trapped for 23 hours mid-air Saturday after a cable car accident in southern Turkey that killed one person.
Ten people, including children, were injured in the accident, which happened late Friday afternoon in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya when a supporting pylon collapsed.
One cable car in the Sarisu-Tunektepe system plummeted into a rocky area, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.
A total of 174 passengers, including children, were “successfully” rescued from at least 16 cable cars after a “very dangerous operation”, said Okay Memis, the head of Turkey’s disaster and emergency management agency Afad.
“This accident occurred following the breakage of a mechanism at the top of a cable car pylon,” Memis added.
The remaining 43 passengers who were suspended in the air were finally freed on Saturday afternoon.
