A cable car carrying passengers in a mountainous region of southern Turkey broke apart after hitting part of the metal structure supporting it on Friday, sending its eight terrified occupants plummeting to the rocky slope below.
One passenger was killed, seven were injured and nearly 200 others were trapped in other open-air cabins, some overnight and then for hours Saturday afternoon as rescuers worked to rescue them. free from the paralyzed line.
Helicopters, cranes and hundreds of rescuers were deployed to evacuate a total of 174 people, the Turkish Interior Minister said. Among those affected were children, local residents and foreign tourists stranded in shacks, some dozens of meters above the ground, in the Sarisu region of Antalya province, officials said.
Thirteen people were taken to hospital for treatment, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. announced on social networks.
Cable cars normally carry passengers to a point high on the steep, tree-covered mountain that offers stunning views of the hills, the city of Antalya and the Mediterranean Sea. Friday evening may have been particularly busy for tourism; The weekend began as Muslims celebrated Eid, the multi-day holiday that marks the end of Ramadan.
On Friday around 6 p.m. local time, a pole that was part of the system broke and hit one of the cabins, shattering the cabin and dropping its eight passengers onto the rocky ground when the ground they were standing on collapsed. suddenly collapsed, said the Demiroren. the news agency reported.
One passenger who fell from the damaged cable car, a 54-year-old man, died at the scene and the other seven were injured, Demiroren said. At least three other people were injured in the rescue operation, Antalya Mayor Muhittin Bocek told reporters at the scene.
Images from the site showed the broken car, missing its floor and with its windows smashed, hanging several meters off the ground in the evening twilight. Other cabins – many with shaken occupants still inside – stretched before and behind them on the line’s long cables, hanging like tiny orange fruits from a vine above the rocks and trees in below.
Tall cranes rose near some of the cars, stretching out to reach them. On others, emergency personnel wearing climbing helmets climbed ropes to help trapped occupants. Metal baskets were used to evacuate the injured by helicopter.
In one case, a passenger wearing high-heeled sandals and carrying a small child strapped to her chest was evacuated with safety straps and slowly lowered to the ground. A rescuer perched on the cable car as she was evacuated, while other passengers waited their turn inside.
The rescuers managed to evacuate 137 people overnight and into Saturday morning, and authorities said they finally concluded the operation Saturday afternoon, nearly a full day after the crash stopped cars on the line.
At noon, passengers in five cabins were still waiting to be evacuated in what had become a methodical and dangerous task.
“There is a volatile air flow and there is wind,” Okay Memis, head of Turkey’s emergency agency, said in a televised address, adding that this made it difficult for helicopters to fly nearby. of the site. “Rescues are taking place in a very steep area.”
Mr Memis said officials on the ground were in constant contact with the stranded runners.
Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the accident, Turkey’s justice minister said, and experts have been appointed to determine the underlying cause and any liability.
All 24 cabins of the cable car line were in the air at the time of the accident. Most of the small cars, which each have a rated capacity of eight people, carried both adults and children. The line opened in 2017, departing near a picnic area and providing direct access to the viewing platform, shops and a cafe at the summit.
Mayor Bocek, whose municipality operates the cable line, said in a televised speech that weekly and monthly maintenance of the cable line has been completed.
The last annual maintenance took place between February 19 and March 4 this year, said Deniz Yavuzyilmaz, an official in Mr. Bocek’s political party.
