1 Dead, 40+ Stranded in Turkish Cable Car Accident
Over 40 people remained stranded in cable cars on a mountain in southern Turkey on Saturday, 19 hours after a cabin struck a pylon and came apart, killing one person and injuring seven others, AP reports.
The accident occurred on Friday at around 5:30 PM local time at the Tunek Tepe cable car, just outside the Mediterranean city of Antalya, during the busy Eid al-Fitr holiday. Rescue operations to save the stranded people continued throughout the night.
"128 citizens in 16 gondolas have been rescued under difficult conditions," Okay Memis, head of Turkey's search and rescue agency AFAD, told reporters on Saturday morning. "The rescue of another 43 people from eight other remaining gondolas is ongoing."
He added that rescuers hope to finalise the rescue operations before nightfall.
Officials said one gondola struck a pylon and opened up, sending passengers plummeting to the ground below.
The state-run Anadolu Agency identified the deceased as a 54-year-old Turkish man. The injured include six Turkish citizens and one Kyrgyz national, including two children. They were rescued by Coast Guard helicopters.
A total of 543 personnel and seven helicopters are involved in the rescue operations, including AFAD teams, the Coast Guard, firefighters, and mountain climbers from different parts of Turkey, officials said.
Friday was the last day of a three-day public holiday in Turkey marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims, when families flock to coastal resorts.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
