A court in southern Türkiye sentenced eight people on April 20 to prison terms over a 2024 cable car accident in the coastal resort of Antalya that killed one passenger and injured seven.
Four of the defendants were convicted of causing death and injury through negligence and were sentenced to seven years and six months each. The other four were sentenced to between three years and four months and five years for the same offense.
In the April 12, 2024, accident, one of the cable car gondolas hit a pole and burst open, sending its passengers plummeting to the rocks below. The cable car system then shut down, leaving 174 people stranded in their gondolas high above ground — some for nearly 23 hours — before they were rescued.
The cable car carries tourists from Konyaaltı Beach to a restaurant and viewing platform at the summit of the 618-meter Tünektepe peak. The accident occurred during the Eid al-Fitr holiday, marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Most of the defendants in the case were employees of ANET, a subsidiary of Antalya Metropolitan Municipality that operates the cable car in the Mediterranean city.
