Rabia Küçük, a 51-year-old nurse, and her daughter, Nur Çeken, a university student, who were rescued after being stranded for 5.5 hours in a cable car accident in Antalya, detailed the fearful moments they experienced in an interview conducted on Monday.

The mother said, "I will never ride anything that lifts my feet off the ground again," while her daughter, who recorded the moment of the incident while making a video, said that they suddenly started to shake and were very scared.

One of the iron poles holding the Sarısu cable car line, which belongs to Antalya Metropolitan Municipality and was put into service in 2017, broke at 5:28 p.m. on April 12 and hit one of the cable cars. The base of the car with eight people inside was broken by the impact of the iron pole. The eight people in the cabin fell to the ground from a height of several meters.

Teams arriving at the scene determined that Memiş Enes Gümüş, 54, had died. The other seven injured passengers were taken by helicopter to hospitals. After the accident, work was started to rescue those trapped in the cabins on the cable car line, which was stopped after the accident.

After the unremitting efforts of helicopters and a team of 2,202 people, 174 people were evacuated within 22.5 hours.

Rabia Küçük, a nurse at Serik State Hospital, her daughter, who studies at Eskişehir Osmangazi University, and her niece Eda Dağlaraşar were rescued after 5.5 hours.

Smashed cabin

"We decided to ride the cable car to have fun and have a good time. We got on around 1 p.m. I was a little scared at first. After a while, the cable car stopped for about one minute. Then it started again and stopped. At that time we started to shake. There was the cabin in front of us that broke apart," Rabia Küçük said.

"When we saw it, we immediately called 112 (emergency call) and informed them. We said that the pole had fallen over, the cabin had broken down and a disaster had happened," she continued.

"Then everyone started to come for intervention. We were worried and prayed it wouldn't break. We stayed in the air for about 5.5 hours. Afterward, the firefighter reached us from above via ropes. There were rescue teams below. They prepared the pulley system and lowered us down safely one by one with ropes."

"We landed on the rocky slope. We were taken by the teams to the area where the pole had fallen. After a while, we were lowered into the ambulances. We were very afraid. We were close to death. Everyone experienced the same thing; we are sure of it."

"We were afraid we were going to die. At the moment of the first tremor, we thought we had already fallen. May God never let anyone experience this again," she said.

Thanking all the teams and saying that everyone did their best, Küçük said: "It was the best work that could be done. The process was long but the platform was difficult. It was the first time in my life something like this happened. My children are studying at university. They were going to return the next day. At that moment, I thought of my children, my nephew and my daughter.''

''I prayed, 'May God protect everyone.' We recited all the prayers we knew. I am a health professional, but in a panic, my identity as a health professional was left behind. I could only think like a mother, like a citizen. The glass of the cabin was broken. We were among the first to be rescued.''

''The fire brigade rescued us with safety lines. The helicopters had not arrived yet. Everyone rescued us with the best organization they could. I thank everyone very much. We faced death for 5.5 hours," she said.

Nur Çeken said, "We were very scared, it was a bad process. I started to shoot a video as a souvenir so that we could laugh because my parents were scared.''

''We started to shake. I called 112. At first, we couldn't understand. When we shook, I thought, 'We are falling now.' All the teams gathered. The crisis desk drew a plan and started rescuing immediately.''

''At first, the teams took the injured people in the falling cabin and took them away. We were watching them and then we were rescued first. At that moment I thought 'We are going to die.' At the first moment, I looked at my mum and cousin to see if they were okay. Then I checked myself."