Rescue and emergency team members work with passengers of a cable car transportation system outside Antalya, southern Turkey, Friday, April 12, 2024. (Dia Images via AP)
Apr 13, 2024. Posted
by Balkan
Periscope - Hellas
Turkey -
The last of 174 people stranded in cable cars high above a mountain in southern Turkey were brought to safety Saturday, nearly 23 hours after one pod hit a pole and burst open, killing one person and injuring seven when they plummeted to the rocks below.
Interior
Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced the successful completion of the rescue
operation on X Saturday afternoon
The
stranded people had been stuck on the Tunektepe cable car, just outside the
Mediterranean city of Antalya, since 5:30 p.m. on Friday, when the accident
occurred.
Istanbul
resident Hatice Polat and her family were rescued seven hours into the ordeal.
Speaking to the Anadolu agency, she said the power went out and the pod flipped
four or five times.
“The night
was awful, we were very scared. There were children with us, they passed out,”
she said. “It was torture being up there for seven hours. It is swaying every
second, you’re constantly in fear. ... It was very traumatic, I don’t know how
we’ll get over this trauma.”
Rescue and emergency team members work with passengers of a cable car transportation system outside Antalya, southern Turkey, Friday, April 12, 2024. (Dia Images via AP)
State-run Anadolu Agency identified the deceased as a 54-year-old Turkish
man. Those injured included two children and were six Turkish citizens and one
Kyrgyz national. They were all rescued by Coast Guard helicopters soon after
the crash and sent for treatment. Images in Turkish media showed the battered
car swaying from dislodged cables on the side of the rocky mountain as medics
tended the wounded.
Yerlikaya also
announced that 13 people rescued from other cars were also taken to hospitals
for checkups.
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.
AP
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