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WORLD NEWS

Turkey cable car collision: One dead and 174 rescued

Scores of people successfully rescued from a mountain in Antalya after the carriage hit a broken pole

The last of the 174 people who were stranded after a cable car collision above a mountain in southern Turkey have been successfully rescued.

One person was killed and ten injured when a cable cabin collided with a broken pole, sending passengers plummeting to the mountainside below.

The pod crashed and burst open at about 6pm on Friday, according to the interior ministry, as it travelled up the hillside in Antalya, on the south coast of Turkey.

Officials said more than a hundred people had been rescued from other cable cars overnight but 43 remained stranded on Saturday morning, dozens of feet above the ground and at a steep incline.

Ali Yerlikaya, the interior minister, announced that the rescue operation had been successfully completed on Saturday afternoon via X.

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Seven helicopters and more than 500 rescuers were involved in the rescue mission, including mountain specialists and the coast guard, though none of the people waiting to be rescued had critical injuries or were in poor health, according to authorities.

More than three dozen people were still trapped on Saturday
More than three dozen people were still trapped on Saturday
SULEYMAN ELCIN/ANADOLU/GETTY IMAGES
Rescue teams worked through the night to remove the injured from the wreckage
Rescue teams worked through the night to remove the injured from the wreckage
HATICE OZDEMIR TOSUN/ANADOLU /GETTY

A video released by the interior ministry showed rescue personnel tied to safety ropes climbing into cabins.

A 54-year-old Turkish man was identified as the deceased, with two children among those injured, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.

Five were taken to hospital by helicopter, with efforts late into Friday night to remove the other injured people from the wreckage.

Hatice Polat, a resident of Istanbul, and her family were rescued seven hours into the ordeal.

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When the collision occurred, the power went out and the pod flipped four or five times, she told the state-run Anadolu Agency.

“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.”

Footage of the damaged cable car showed smashed windows and the floor having fallen through, swinging from dislodged cables.

According to local media reports, it hit a connecting pole which had fallen “for an undetermined reason”, causing it to tumble into the rocky terrain below.

The cable car carries tourists up the mountain from the beach below
The cable car carries tourists up the mountain from the beach below
DIA IMAGES/AP

The justice ministry said an investigation had been opened into the cause of the accident.

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The cable car carries tourists from Konyaalti beach to the peak of the mountain, which is 2,010 feet (613m) high.

Friday was the final day of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, marking the end of Ramadan, which sees families travel to coastal resorts for festivities.