Devendra Kumar
Rescuers finally reached the last of the 174 people stranded in cable cars high above a mountain in southern Turkey, nearly 23 hours after one pod hit a pole and burst open, killing one person and injuring seven others. The incident occurred around 5:30 pm on Friday, when the Tunektepe cable car, just outside the Mediterranean city of Antalya, stopped functioning due to a mechanical failure. The rescue operation involved 607 search and rescue personnel and 10 helicopters, including teams from Turkey’s emergency response agency, the Coast Guard, firefighting teams, and mountain rescue teams from different parts of the country.
The stranded people had been stuck on the cable car, which carried tourists from Konyaalti beach to a restaurant and viewing platform at the summit of the 618-meter Tunektepe peak, for almost an entire day. A rescue team worker described the scene as “torture” with the power having gone out and the pod flipping four or five times. Hatice Polat, an Istanbul resident who was rescued seven hours into the ordeal, described the experience as “traumatic” and said it was swaying every second, constantly in fear. “The night was awful, we were very scared. There were children with us, they passed out,” she said.
The deceased was a 54-year-old Turkish man, and those injured included two children and six Turkish citizens, as well as one Kyrgyz national. The injured were all rescued by Coast Guard helicopters soon after the crash and sent for treatment. Images showed the battered car swaying from dislodged cables on the side of the rocky mountain as medics tended to the wounded.
Thirteen people rescued from other cars were also taken to hospitals for check-ups. The incident occurred during a busy weekend in Turkey, with many families flocking to coastal resorts to celebrate the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. 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.
An investigation has been launched by the Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, and an expert commission including mechanical and electrical engineers and health and safety experts has been assigned to determine the cause of the incident. The rescue operation was a complex and challenging one, requiring multiple helicopters and rescue teams to work together to safely retrieve the stranded passengers. Despite the challenges, the operation was ultimately successful, with all passengers brought to safety.