A tripod style tower collapsed on a Turkish gondola lift yesterday evening, leading to a delicate overnight rescue operation. The scenic lift was fully loaded with approximately 180 passengers, eight of whom fell to the ground when their cabin was hit by the falling tower around 6:00 pm. A 54 year old Turkish man was killed and seven others were injured. Helicopters and hundreds of first responders worked all night to evacuate remaining stranded passengers. The Antalya municipality which owns the lift said it may take 24 hours for the last riders to be rescued from the steep, rocky lift line.
Opened in 2017, the Tünektepe Teleferik carries up to 1,200 riders per hour on 1,967 vertical foot scenic ride. The detachable gondola was likely built by STM, a Turkish manufacturer using Carvatech cabins. The lift’s 36 cabins travel at 5 meters per second to reach a mountaintop restaurant.
Update 4/13: Nearly 24 hours after the incident, the line was cleared of all passengers. Turkey’s Minister of Justice said 17 people were injured, some a result of the evacuation rather than the initial crash. Preliminary indications are the “incident occurred due to the insufficiency/corrosion of fasteners at the connection points of the cable car’s poles and damaged pulley systems on the poles.” The operator of the cable car apparently did not have an adequate evacuation/emergency action plan in place. A criminal investigation has been opened and a detention order issued for 13 employees.
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