ISTANBUL - One person was killed and 10 others injured on Friday in the southern Turkish province of Antalya after a cable car cabin collided with a broken pylon, the interior ministry said on Saturday.
Twenty-four cabins became stranded in midair at 5.23pm local time on Friday. A total of 128 passengers were rescued from 16 cable cars but 43 were still stranded on Saturday morning, said the disaster and emergency management authority, known as Afad.
Seven helicopters and more than 500 rescuers, including specialist mountaineers, were at the scene, authorities said.
None of the people waiting to be rescued had critical injuries or were in poor health, Afad chairman Okay Memis told reporters at the scene, adding that they aimed to complete the rescue work before sunset.
A video released by the interior ministry showed rescue personnel tied to safety ropes climbing into cabins to bring people out.
The fatality and the 10 injuries occurred after one cable car in the Sarisu-Tunektepe system plummeted into a rocky area after striking the pylon, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.
The justice ministry said an investigation had been opened into the cause of the accident.
According to the information on its website, the cable car system has 36 cabins with a capacity of six people each, and it takes an average of nine minutes to go uphill to the Tunektepe facility, which offers panoramic views of the city of Antalya.
A girl is carried by a member of the Gendarmerie Search and Rescue (JAK) team during a rescue operation on Friday night after a cable car cabin collided with a broken pylon, in Antalya, Turkey. (Photo: Antalya Governorship via Reuters)