Two dead as fairy chimney collapses in Turkey's Cappadocia amid heavy rains

What happened

A fairy chimney, one of the volcanic rock pillars that define Cappadocia, collapsed on Thursday, 29 October, in Göreme, a town in central Turkey. Officials said the rockfall came down near a parking lot at the entrance to the site, close to the Göreme open-air museum, at about 15:15 local time. Nevşehir governor Hüseyin Kök said two people had died and that their bodies had been recovered. The collapse occurred on Turkey's Republic Day holiday, when the area would have been crowded with visitors. Medical and rescue teams were sent to the scene, and the zone was closed to the public.

Casualties and rescue

Reports differ on the number of injured. AP put the figure at five, while other reports described one injured person taken to hospital and TVP Info said three had been taken there. Kök said rescue teams were still searching for other people who might be trapped under the debris. Footage broadcast by HaberTurk showed heavy machinery removing chunks of rock from the foot of the formation. There was no immediate information on the nationalities of the dead.

Cause and investigation

Kök said heavy rains in the region had most likely caused the collapse, a rockfall triggered by a landslide in Göreme. Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said an investigation had been launched, and he put the number of injured at five. The prosecutor's office in Nevşehir has also opened its own inquiry. Kök said the government was using all available resources at the site, where search and rescue operations were still under way.

Cappadocia's fragile landscape

The fairy chimneys were formed by ancient volcanic activity and have been shaped over time by erosion. The Cappadocia site has been on UNESCO's World Heritage list since 1985. Authorities have carried out restoration works to protect the chimneys from centuries of erosion and from heavy visitor numbers. In September 2026, Aydin Cem Aslanbay, director of the body that manages the site, told Daily Sabah that the formations are fragile. He said the site draws 4.5 million visitors a year and generates $2.5 billion in revenue.

Earlier collapses

Landslides had already brought down some fairy chimneys in the area in 2024 and 2025, according to ANSA and Il Fatto Quotidiano, but none of those collapses caused injuries or deaths. Fanpage reported that in September 2025 a portion of another rock formation fell onto the ground in the Gaferli neighborhood of Göreme, with no one hurt. Fanpage also reported that restoration work on five fairy chimneys considered in need of maintenance had started only weeks before Thursday's collapse, though it is unclear whether the chimney that fell at the museum entrance was among them.