Mayor released after cable car accident in Antalya

ANTALIA

A court in Antalya has ordered the release of the mayor of Kepez, Mesut Kocagöz, in the first hearing into the fatal cable car accident in the Mediterranean province in April.

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Kocagöz was arrested shortly after a man fell to his death from a broken cable car cabin on April 12. The abrupt shutdown of the cable car left 174 people stranded in 24 suspended cabins and they could only be rescued after about 23 hours of rescue operations.

Kocagöz, who was elected mayor of the Kepez district in the local elections on March 31, was accused of negligence in his previous position at the cable car company.

During the hearing on June 11, the mayor claimed that he had resigned from his position at the cable car company months before the accident in order to concentrate on his election campaign.

He defended the statement that during his tenure, maintenance and inspections of the cable car were carried out carefully.

“I have been in custody since April 14. I have reviewed the expert reports several times. I have thought about what I could have done to avert this disaster. I have been in public service for 35 years. There has never been anything that has called my integrity into question,” he explained.

After the accident, allegations of serious negligence in the inspection and periodic maintenance of the cable car occupied the country’s agenda for a long time.

Local media had previously reported that passengers had warned the operator immediately before the incident. The cable car was stopped for 50 seconds and then put into operation again.

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Suphi Kaplan, who was working as a telephone assistant at the time, was arrested during the hearing on June 11.