Singapore Prime Minister to Step Down, Successor to Take Office in May

Singapore will soon get its fourth Prime Minister—and only the second outside of its founding family that has led the country for a combined more than 50 years since the city-state gained its independence in the 1960s. 

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, 72, who has held the position since 2004, will relinquish his office on May 15, and 51-year-old Lawrence Wong—currently deputy prime minister and finance minister—will be sworn in as the country’s next premier, according to a statement Monday by the Prime Minister’s Office. (Singapore elected a new President last year, but the role is mostly ceremonial.)

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Wong, who has long been viewed as Lee’s successor, “has the unanimous support of the PAP MPs,” the statement said, referring to the country’s ruling People’s Action Party, which has continuously dominated politics since its founding under Lee’s late father Lee Kuan Yew, who was the country’s first Prime Minister for 31 years before stepping down in 1990, though he remained in politics until 2011.

“For any country, a leadership transition is a significant moment. Lawrence and the 4G team have worked hard to gain the people’s trust, notably during the pandemic,” Lee posted on Facebook on Monday, referring to the so-called fourth generation of PAP leaders helmed by Wong. “I ask all Singaporeans to give Lawrence and his team your full support, and work with them to create a brighter future for Singapore.”

Lee, who had previously expressed plans to step down before his 70th birthday in 2022 until they were disrupted by the pandemic, said last November that he would resume his succession plans and hand over leadership to Wong before the next general election, due to take place by November this year: “Either I can continue to lead the party in the next [general election], which would be my fifth as [Prime Minister], and then hand over soon afterwards to Lawrence [Wong]; or I can hand over to Lawrence before the GE, then he leads the party into the campaign, wins his own mandate, and takes the country forward with the full backing of the nation,” Lee said during a party convention.

“Everything depends on the success of this third transition in our history,” he added.

Wong’s succession to the premiership comes as Singapore emerges from a series of recent political and financial scandals—some of the biggest the city-state has ever seen—and as Southeast Asia continues to navigate the geopolitical rivalry between China and the U.S. looming over the region. The country has also consistently ranked as the most expensive in the world to live in, though it ranks as one of the happiest in Asia, too.

Read More: A Wave of Scandals Is Testing the Singaporean Government’s Ability to Take Criticism

“I accept this responsibility with humility and a deep sense of duty,” Wong said in a video published on his Instagram on Monday. “Together, we can build a future that shines brightly for all Singaporeans.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lawrence Wong (@lawrencewongst)

source https://time.com/6966826/singapore-prime-minister-lee-wong-handover-date-transition/

Australian Police Investigate Why Man Who Went on Stabbing Spree Targeted Women

Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed six people to death in a busy Sydney shopping mall and injured more than a dozen others targeted women while avoiding men, a police commissioner said on Monday.

Police shot and killed the homeless assailant, Joel Cauchi, during his knife attack in the Westfield Bondi Junction mall on Saturday near world-famous Bondi Beach.

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Police have ruled out terrorism and said the 40-year-old had a history of mental illness.

New South Wales state Police Commissioner Karen Webb said detectives would question Cauchi’s family in a bid to determine his motive. CCTV footage from the mall showed Cauchi targeted women.

“The videos speak for themselves, don’t they? And that’s certainly a line of inquiry for us,” Webb told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“It’s obvious to me, it’s obvious to detectives that that seems to be an area of interest: that the offender had focused on women and avoided the men,” Webb added.

The only male killed was Faraz Tahir, a Pakistani refugee who worked at the mall as a security guard. Tahir had not been armed.

Most of the 12 victims who survived their wounds were also women, Webb said.

Read More: The Link Between Domestic Violence and Mass Shootings

The evidence will be provided to a coroner to report on the circumstances of the deaths.

Webb expected the coroner would also address the question of whether security guards at the mall, which is one of Australia’s largest, should be armed.

The families of two victims based overseas had been advised of their deaths, police said. Those victims are Tahir, 30, from Pakistan, and Yixuan Cheng, 27, from China. Also killed were Jade Young, 47; Dawn Singleton, 25; Pikria Darchia, 55; and Ashlee Good, 38.

Eight victims who survived their injuries remained in hospitals on Monday, including Good’s 9-month-old daughter. The baby’s condition improved overnight Sunday from critical to serious, health authorities said.

The conditions of the other seven ranged from critical to stable.

Flags on government buildings around Australia flew at half-staff on Monday as a day of national mourning was declared to honor the victims. A black ribbon will appear on the sails of the Sydney Opera House on Monday night has part of a light display.

Police had given control of the seven-story crime scene back to the mall operators on Sunday night, but a decision has yet to be announced on when it will reopen for business.

The police officer who has been credited with saving many lives by shooting Cauchi dead, Insp. Amy Scott, will be interviewed by detectives on Tuesday.

source https://time.com/6966780/australia-sydney-mall-knife-attack-women-victims-targeted-police-investigation/

Q&A: Gaza Aid Worker Recounts Bullets Hitting Convoy as Threats Persist After World Central Kitchen Attack

After an Israel airstrike killed World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza, drawing worldwide condemnation, international humanitarian agencies say they continue to face violence and practical obstacles trying to deliver aid throughout the famine-threatened territory.

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UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram tells TIME in a phone call from Rafah on Sunday about a harrowing and unsuccessful attempt to get aid to north Gaza a week after the World Central Kitchen attack. The convoy she was traveling in, which had coordinated in advance with the Israel Defense Forces, was caught in crossfire while waiting at a checkpoint. Ingram says she doesn’t know who fired the shots, but they seemed to come from the direction of the checkpoint, which she estimates was less than a kilometer (roughly half a mile) away.

Delays. Access restrictions. Shooting.

On Tuesday, UNICEF's humanitarian convoy was hit by live ammunition on the way to deliver life-saving aid to north Gaza.

Our staff are safe, but the immense difficulties of delivering aid are making it nearly impossible to meet children's… pic.twitter.com/dIIqKitVhn

— UNICEF (@UNICEF) April 11, 2024

The IDF tells TIME in a statement that after an examination, it appears its forces “were not within firing range of the convoy at the time and place indicated and it was found that no fire was carried out at the vehicle by the IDF,” adding “the IDF works in order to prevent harm to humanitarian teams.”  

In response, Ingram says “we think it’s important that an independent investigation is conducted to shed light on what happened and to ensure that in the future, we’ve got the necessary security to deliver aid.” 

The need is dire. The world’s authority on food insecurity warned last month that one million people face a looming famine in Gaza. The Hamas-run health ministry reported 28 children have died of malnutrition and dehydration as of April 12.

Despite the needs, more than half of recent requested aid missions to north Gaza were unsuccessful, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported. Between April 6 and 12, Israel facilitated 41% of missions, with 41% denied or impeded including due to hostilities, and 17% canceled by aid groups mainly due to logistical constraints.

Even coordinated missions can be dangerous, with World Central Kitchen saying it coordinated its movements with Israel before the military attacked its convoy on April 2. The resulting deaths of seven aid workers, which Israel called a “grave mistake,” prompted President Joe Biden to give an ultimatum to Israel––increase food aid into Gaza and take measures to protect civilians or risk losing U.S. support.

Israel in response announced it would open new avenues to allow in more aid, including a crossing into north Gaza. COGAT, the IDF’s humanitarian arm, tells TIME in an email that it has increased aid, with more than 300 trucks entering Gaza each day last week.

Biden said Wednesday that the number of trucks was still “not enough.” Data from UNRWA, the U.N.’s Palestinian relief agency, shows only a slight uptick (the agency counts trucks differently than COGAT, the Associated Press reported). COGAT accused the U.N. of not collecting aid, posting a picture on X of items lined up inside Gaza and saying: “The bottlenecks are not on the Israeli side.”

The U.N.’s head has pushed back that “the real problem is that the way Israel is conducting this offensive is creating massive obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid,” with bombardment and combat threatening workers. Since the war began on Oct. 7, 217 aid workers have been killed in Gaza, according to the Aid Worker Security Database.

“The increase in aid is not yet tangible, sustained or uninterrupted,” Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, wrote on X. “Aid also needs to reach safely all those in need.”

Here’s what Ingram tells TIME about the challenges to delivering aid and the needs. The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

What happened on Tuesday at the checkpoint? 

What happened was we hit the road––we were quite late in getting the green light to leave––we drove up toward the Salah Al-Din checkpoint on the Wadi Gaza line. We were instructed to wait in the designated holding areas for convoys, which is not unusual. While we were in that holding area, we were looking at a mechanical problem in our car, when gunfire broke out. 

Do you know what instigated it or where it came from? 

I don’t know what instigated it. It seemed to come from the direction of the checkpoint, towards the south, and it seems to be towards civilians, or apparent civilians, who then turned and ran in the other direction. I would say I saw a dozen (apparent civilians). 

Can you describe the impacts on your convoy from the gunfire? 

We were a convoy of three cars and two trucks. Only one vehicle was hit, that was the one I was in. We received three bullets, one in the hood of the car, and two on the door where I was sitting, which was the back passenger door on the right hand side, one in the window and one in the door. My colleague in one of the other cars, he saw bullets ricocheting off the ground. Ahead of us at the holding point there was another U.N. convoy from the World Food Programme  and the United Nations Office for Project Services. They had a bullet go through the windshield of their fuel truck. 

We’re very fortunate  that we were in an armored vehicle…Fortunately, we were unharmed. 

What happened after the gunfire ? 

We decided that we would continue with the mission. And basically, that just meant continuing to hold until we got the green light. Unfortunately, we held there for at least another two hours. And by that point, it was about 1 p.m., the mission was no longer feasible, because we knew that if we got the green light, we would have still had to make the journey to the checkpoint, through the checkpoint, up north, and we wouldn’t have the time needed to complete the mission. So we decided that we would turn back and try another day. 

Today, we had our redo of our mission to the north. It was a 13-hour mission, and almost six of those hours were spent waiting for the green light. We didn’t get to complete everything, and that’s really disappointing. We were only able to conduct the nutrition and medical aspects of the mission at Kamal Adwan Hospital. We had 45 minutes on the ground at the hospital, that’s it. 

We delivered a whole truck of medical and nutrition supplies. It included ready-to-use therapeutic food, which is a treatment for malnutrition, and high energy biscuits. 

What did you see people experiencing on the ground in North Gaza? 

The level of destruction is mind blowing. It includes the roads, it includes a large percentage of the buildings. There were people on the streets, but we had no issues in terms of mobbing or looting. People were actually waving and smiling at us, which I find so admirable considering that they’ve been through six months of horror and war in the north of Gaza. 

(At the hospital) we went to the children’s ward and met some mothers and some children. I met three children who suffered from malnutrition––a 35-day-old baby, a two-and-a-half year old, and a seven-year-old. They all had severe acute malnutrition. The mothers were very distressed. The seven-year-old wasn’t able to speak and she was very, very thin. The 35-day-old baby was one and a half kilos (three pounds). The two-year-old was four kilos (nine pounds). 

We evacuated that seven-year-old girl from the north to the south, we just dropped her off at a stabilization center in Rafah. Her mom said that they had run out of food and were having to eat animal fodder, and it made her daughter very sick. 

What do you think the warring parties and the international agencies involved need to do to ensure more humanitarian aid and also safety for aid workers in Gaza? 

We need more crossings open, desperately. 

Anything that can be done to improve the coordination process on the ground is really important…Basically, this coordination and deconfliction system is not operating properly and there is no reason why it can’t. We use this system in other parts of the world…It should be able to work here, it’s just not being respected at the moment and we need it to be respected to ensure our safety, but also the safety of the people we serve. 

Of course it’s dangerous, but to me the delays that we face are such an enormous problem. At the end of the day, our job is to deliver the aid, and it’s the delays that prevent us from delivering the aid. 

There’s been a lot of conversation lately about the dangers that humanitarian workers face in Gaza, but we’re some of the safest and protected people in the Gaza Strip. The injuries that I have seen in the hospitals are horrific, and particularly in children, with bullet wounds, glass wounds, amputation, broken bones, and so many injuries of war. It’s an important reminder that when we’re talking about safety, it’s also about the safety of the Palestinian people, including the kids.

source https://time.com/6966743/gaza-aid-worker-bullets-hit-convoy/

Biden Convenes G7 to Discuss the Iranian Threat and Prevent an Escalation After Attack on Israel

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden convened the Group of Seven advanced democracies on Sunday to coordinate a rebuke to Iran for its unprecedented and largely unsuccessful aerial attack on Israel and to prevent a wider regional escalation.

The United States assisted Israel in shooting down dozens of drones and missiles fired by Tehran in what was the first time that Iran has launched a direct military assault on Israel. Israeli authorities said 99% of the inbound weapons were shot down without causing any significant damage.

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“At my direction, to support the defense of Israel, the U.S. military moved aircraft and ballistic missile defense destroyers to the region over the course of the past week,” Biden said in a statement late Saturday. “Thanks to these deployments and the extraordinary skill of our servicemembers, we helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles.”

Biden, in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that night, urged that Israel claim victory for its defense prowess as the president aimed to dissuade America’s closest Mideast ally from a larger retaliatory strike against Iran. Biden, according to a senior administration official, told Netanyahu that the U.S. would not participate in any offensive action against Iran. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss the private conversation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“I told him that Israel demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks -– sending a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel,” Biden said in his statement.

The G7 meeting, Biden said, is intended “to coordinate a united diplomatic response to Iran’s brazen attack.”

The effort to encourage Israel to show restraint mirrored ongoing American efforts to curtail Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which is now in its seventh month, and to do more to protect civilian lives in the territory.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, criticized White House for “leaking it to the press” that Biden told Netanyahu to take the win and not retaliate.

Rubio told CNN’s “State of the Union” that it wast “part of the White House’s efforts to appease” people calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.

source https://time.com/6966737/biden-convenes-g7-iran-israel/

Israel Says Iran Has Launched a Number of Drones Toward It and Closes Its Airspace

(JERUSALEM) — Iran launched drones toward Israel late Saturday, the Israeli military announced, and Iran’s state-run media reported that dozens had been fired.

The Israeli army’s spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said it would take several hours for the aircraft to arrive and that the country was prepared. Iran had been threatening to attack Israel since an airstrike last week killed two Iranian generals in Syria. Israel has not commented on that attack, but Iran accused it of being behind it.

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Israeli aviation authorities said they were closing the country’s airspace to all flights as of 12:30 a.m. local time (5:30 p.m. EDT).

The drone attack late Saturday marked the first time Iran had ever launched a full-scale military assault on Israel, despite decades of enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

In a statement carried by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard acknowledged launching “dozens of drones and missiles towards the occupied territories and positions of the Zionist regime.” The statement did not elaborate.

The White House said it would provide unspecified support for Israel’s defense against the ongoing attack. “The United States will stand with the people of Israel and support their defense against these threats from Iran,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.

President Joe Biden was set to convene a principals meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the unfolding attack, the White House said. Biden had cut short a weekend trip to his beach house in Delaware to return to the White House and monitor the situation.

Earlier Saturday, the Israeli military said it was canceling school and limiting public gatherings to no more than 1,000 people as a precaution.

Hagari said Israel is “prepared and ready” with defensive and offensive actions. He also said there was “tight” cooperation with the U.S. and other partners in the region.

The head of the U.S. Central Command, Gen. Erik Kurilla, has been in Israel in recent days to coordinate with Israel about the Iranian threats.

Israel has a number of layers of air defense capable of intercepting everything from long-range missiles to UAV’s and short-range rockets. Hagari said Israel has an “excellent air defense system” but stressed it is not 100% effective and urged the public to listen to safety announcements.

For days, Iranian officials including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have threatened to “slap” Israel for its Syria strike.

Iran has largely avoided directly attacking Israel, despite its targeted killings of nuclear scientists and sabotage campaigns on Iran’s atomic sites. Iran has targeted Israeli or Jewish-linked sites through proxy forces.

Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip has inflamed decade-old tensions in the Middle East, and any new attack threatens to escalate that conflict into a wider regional war.

Flight-tracking data showed the airspace over Jordan empty, while few flights continued on their north-south routes over Iraq. A sole Middle East Airlines flight from Dubai to Beirut remained airborne over Syria.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported heavy Israeli airstrikes and shelling on multiple locations in south Lebanon following the launch of drones from Iran. The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has been clashing with Israeli forces in the border area for more than six months.

Earlier Saturday, commandos from Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard rappelled from a helicopter onto an Israeli-affiliated container ship near the Strait of Hormuz and seized the vessel.

Iran’s state-run IRNA said a special forces unit of the Guard’s navy carried out the attack on the Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries, a container ship associated with London-based Zodiac Maritime.

Zodiac Maritime is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group. Zodiac declined to comment and referred questions to MSC. Geneva-based MSC acknowledged the seizure and said 25 crew members were on the ship.

“We are working closely with the relevant authorities to ensure their wellbeing, and safe return of the vessel,” MSC said.

White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the crew was made up of Indian, Filipino, Pakistani, Russian and Estonian nationals and urged Iran to release them and the vessel.

IRNA said the Guard would take the vessel into Iranian territorial waters.

A Middle East defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, provided video of the attack to The Associated Press in which Iranian commandos are seen rappelling onto a stack of containers on the vessel’s deck.

The video corresponded with known details of the MSC Aries. The commandos rappelled from what appeared to be a Soviet-era Mil Mi-17 helicopter, which both the Guard and the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen have used before to raid ships.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called on nations to list the Guard as a terrorist organization. Iran “is a criminal regime that supports Hamas’ crimes and is now conducting a pirate operation in violation of international law,” Katz said.

The U.S., Israel’s main backer, has stood by the country despite growing concerns over Israel’s war on Gaza killing more than 33,600 Palestinians and wounding over 76,200 more. Israel’s war began after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw some 250 others taken hostage.

The Pentagon said Saturday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart “to discuss urgent regional threats … and made clear that Israel could count on full U.S. support to defend Israel against any attacks by Iran and its regional proxies.” National security adviser Jake Sullivan also spoke with his counterpart to reinforce Washington’s “ironclad commitment to the security of Israel.”

___

Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, Michael Balsamo in New York, Krutika Pathi in New Delhi, Stephen Graham in Berlin, Thomas Adamson in Paris, and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

source https://time.com/6966714/israel-iran-drone-launch-airspace/

West Bank Sees Some of Its Worst Violence Since War in Gaza Began as Israeli Teen’s Body Is Found

(Al-MUGHAYYIR, West Bank) — The Israeli-occupied West Bank saw some of its worst violence Saturday since the war in nearby Gaza began, as Israel’s army said the body of a missing Israeli teen was found after he was killed in a “terrorist attack” and witnesses said Israeli settlers attacked a number of communities.

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The Israeli military said dozens of people, Palestinians and Israelis, were injured in confrontations in several locations Saturday, with shots fired and rocks thrown. Several companies with the defense forces were deployed and “all of the incidents have concluded,” it asserted.

The disappearance of 14-year-old Binyamin Achimair sparked attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages on Friday and Saturday. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in a statement on social media urged people not to take the law into their own hands in the territory where tensions have simmered for months.

On Friday, Palestinian Jehad Abu Alia was killed and 25 others were wounded in the attack on al-Mughayyir village, Palestinian health officials said. On Saturday, Israeli troops delayed for several hours the ambulance carrying the 26-year-old man’s body for burial, witnesses said.

Dozens of Israeli settlers returned to the village’s outskirts on Saturday, burning 12 homes and several cars. The Palestinian Health Ministry said three people from the village were injured, one critically. Border police fired tear gas toward villagers who gathered, trying to disperse them.

“They entered the house and burned it and burned cars, as you can see,” 42-year-old Akef Abu Allu said, looking at his blackened two-story home in al-Mughayyir.

In the nearby village of Douma, Israeli settlers set fire to around 15 homes and 10 farms, the head of the local village council, Slieman Dawabsheh, told The Associated Press, saying he had been there. “The army came but unfortunately, the army were protecting the settlers,” he said, asserting that it fired tear gas and rubber bullets at Palestinians trying to confront and expel them.

The Israeli military didn’t respond to questions. The Palestinian Red Crescent said six people were injured by gunfire but did not say who fired.

The Israeli human rights group Yesh Din in a statement said at least 10 villages in the West Bank were attacked by Israeli settlers, with homes and vehicles damaged.

Tensions in the West Bank have been especially high since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on Oct. 7, sparked by the Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took 250 hostages. More than 33,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza health officials.

Since then, Hamas has been trying to ignite other fronts, including in the West Bank, in hopes of exerting more pressure on Israel. Such efforts have largely failed, though more than 460 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since Oct. 7, most in clashes sparked by army raids but some by vigilante settlers.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killing of the Israeli teen.

According to Israeli media, the teen was last seen leaving the settler outpost of Malachei Shalom early Friday to tend to livestock nearby. The sheep returned to the outpost hours later without him, reports said.

Israel’s Channel 13 TV reported that Achimair’s body was discovered by a drone. The broadcaster said he was not shot but did not elaborate.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the killing. “We will get to the murderers and their helpers as we do to anyone who harms the citizens of the state of Israel,” he said in a statement issued by his office.

In 2014, the abduction and killing of three Israeli teens in the West Bank escalated tensions and eventually ignited a 50-day Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, at the time the deadliest round of fighting between the two sides.

Consecutive Israeli governments have expanded Israeli settlement construction in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, territories the Palestinians seek for a future state, along with Gaza. Some are highly developed and resemble suburbs of Israeli cities, while smaller outposts often have only a few caravans.

While Israel has established scores of settlements across the occupied West Bank, the outposts are not authorized, though the government gives them tacit support. The international community overwhelmingly considers all West Bank settlements illegal and obstacles to peace.

Over 700,000 Israelis now live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem — territories captured by Israel in 1967.

source https://time.com/6966709/west-bank-israel-gaza-violence-teen/

174 People Stranded in the Air Are Rescued After Fatal Cable Car Accident in Turkey

(ISTANBUL) — The last of 174 people stranded in cable cars high above a mountain in southern Turkey were brought to safety Saturday, nearly 23 hours after one pod hit a pole and burst open, killing one person and injuring seven when they plummeted to the rocks below.

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Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced the successful completion of the rescue operation on X Saturday afternoon.

A total of 607 search and rescue personnel and 10 helicopters were involved, including teams from Turkey’s emergency response agency, AFAD, the Coast Guard, firefighting teams and mountain rescue teams from different parts of Turkey, officials said. Helicopters with night-vision capabilities had continued rescuing people throughout the night.

The stranded people had been stuck on the Tunektepe cable car, just outside the Mediterranean city of Antalya, since 5:30 p.m. on Friday, when the accident occurred.

Istanbul resident Hatice Polat and her family were rescued seven hours into the ordeal. Speaking to the Anadolu agency, she said the power went out and the pod flipped four or five times.

“The night was awful, we were very scared. There were children with us, they passed out,” she said. “It was torture being up there for seven hours. It is swaying every second, you’re constantly in fear. … It was very traumatic, I don’t know how we’ll get over this trauma.”

State-run Anadolu Agency identified the deceased as a 54-year-old Turkish man. Those injured included two children and were six Turkish citizens and one Kyrgyz national. They were all rescued by Coast Guard helicopters soon after the crash and sent for treatment. Images in Turkish media showed the battered car swaying from dislodged cables on the side of the rocky mountain as medics tended the wounded.

Yerlikaya also announced that 13 people rescued from other cars were also taken to hospitals for checkups.

Friday 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 618-meter (2,010-foot) Tunektepe peak. It is run by Antalya Metropolitan Municipality. The cable car line was completed in 2017 and receives a major inspection around the beginning of the year, as well as routine inspections throughout the year.

Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation. An expert commission including mechanical and electrical engineers and health and safety experts was assigned to determine the cause of the incident.

source https://time.com/6966690/people-rescued-cable-car-accident-turkey/