Rocks broke away from a fairy chimney near the entrance to Cappadocia’s Göreme Open-Air Museum at about 3:15 p.m. local time on Thursday, killing at least two people and injuring five others.
Heavy rain triggered a landslide that caused the rocks to break off the volcanic formation, officials said.
Police, gendarmerie, medical personnel and disaster response teams were sent to the scene in Nevsehir province, in central Türkiye. Rescue teams recovered two bodies and took injured people to hospital.
Authorities did not identify those killed or injured.
Nevsehir Governor Huseyin Kök said search and rescue work was continuing, without saying whether officials believed more people were beneath the rocks. Turkish Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said: “according to initial assessments, two individuals have lost their lives in the incident, and five others have been injured”. He warned that there could be “other potential victims” still trapped.
An investigation has been launched into the collapse.
The museum is a complex of churches, chapels and monasteries carved into rock. It stands in Cappadocia, a popular tourist destination known for the tall, cone-shaped volcanic formations called fairy chimneys, which have been shaped by the gradual erosion of volcanic material.
Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1985.
Rain and wind have affected the region intermittently this week, and popular hot-air balloon tours were cancelled on Wednesday and Thursday.
The collapse follows damage to another fairy chimney in Göreme in September 2025. Local officials attributed that earlier break to temperature fluctuations and freeze-thaw conditions.
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