One dead & 10 injured after cable car smashes into post in Turkey as tourists left stranded mid-air

AT LEAST one person has died in a horror cable car collision in Turkey with 10 others injured.

Hundreds of emergency teams arrived to the popular ski resort to rescue petrified holidaymakers stranded in the air after one of the cars smashed into a pole.

IHA via AP

A rescue team working to save hundreds of trapped holidaymakers at a ski resort in Turkey[/caption]

Getty

Hundreds of rescuers worked to save tourists including air crew and mountain rescuers[/caption]

The man has been named by the governor’s office as 54-year-old Turkish local Memiş Gümü.

Six other Turkish citizens and one Kyrgyz national were also injured and were quickly taken to hospital.

Two are thought to have been children.

Health minister Dr Fahrettin Koca later reported another three are also in hospital being treated.

Koca wrote on X: “One person died and 10 people were injured as a result of a cable car cabin falling in Antalya’s Konyaaltı district.

“May God have mercy on our citizen who lost his life in the accident, I wish a speedy recovery to our injured, and I wish a speedy recovery to the rescued and waiting to be rescued victims.”

The initial eight are believed to have been riding in the same car when it fell into a rocky area above the resort at around 6pm local time on Friday night.

The connecting pole that smashed into the car fell “for an undetermined reason”, say local media. 

Muhittin Bocek, Antalya metropolitan municipality mayor, said at least 128 people have been rescued from 16 cable cars so far.

But rescue missions are ongoing for eight other cars with another 60 still stranded.

Bocek said this morning: “Our specialised teams are here. God willing, we will rescue them all in a short time

The rescue operation saw more than 160 first responders rush to the holiday hotspot including helicopter crews and mountaineering teams.

Many arrived from all over Turkey due to the severity of the situation.

The cable car carries tourists from Konyaalti beach to a restaurant and viewing platform at the summit of the 2,027ft Tunektepe peak.

It is run by Antalya Metropolitan Municipality and takes around nine minutes to make the journey.

An investigation has been launched by the Antalya prosecutor’s office to determine the cause of the crash.