Turkey cable car accident sends passenger plummeting to his death

One person was killed and seven injured overnight when a cable car in southern Turkey hit a pole and burst open, sending the passengers plummeting to the mountainside below, local media reported.

Scores of other people were stranded for hours as the entire cable car system came to a standstill.

Two children were among the injured in the accident at the Tunektepe cable car just outside the Mediterranean city of Antalya during the busy Eid al-Fitr holiday, the state-run Anadolu Agency said.

Anadolu identified the deceased as a 54-year-old Turkish man.

The other casualties were all Turkish citizens apart from one Kyrgyz national.

Friday local time (overnight NZT) was the final day of a three-day public holiday in Turkey marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which sees families flock to coastal resorts.

The cable car carries tourists from Konyaalti beach to a restaurant and viewing platform at the summit of the 618m Tunektepe peak.

It is run by Antalya Metropolitan Municipality.

Emergency teams rushed to the area following the crash to treat and evacuate the injured. Images showed the battered car swaying from dislodged cables on the side of the rocky mountain as medics tended the wounded.

Passengers in some of the facility’s 35 other cable car pods were left stranded in mid-air as engineers battled to restart the system.