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At least 66 people dead and 51 hurt after fire at ski resort hotel in Turkey Dozens dead as people jump from windows to escape fire at Turkish ski resort hotel
(about 3 hours later)
Reports of people jumping and climbing from windows after fire broke out at about 3.30am at 12-storey Grand Kartal hotel Witnesses say people used bed sheets or jumped to try to get out of the 12-storey Grand Kartal hotel after fire broke out early in the morning
A hotel fire at a popular ski resort in north-west Turkey on Tuesday has killed at least 66 people, Turkey’s interior minister said. Sixty-six people have died and 51 others were injured after a fire engulfed a popular ski resort hotel in Turkey’s Bolu mountains, forcing guests to jump out of windows or attempt to use bed sheets to flee the building.
Ali Yerlikaya said at least 51 other people had been injured. The fire broke out at about 3.30am on Tuesday in the restaurant of the 12-storey Grand Kartal hotel in the resort of Kartalkaya in Bolu province, northwest Turkey.
“We are in deep pain. We have unfortunately lost 66 lives in the fire that broke out at this hotel,” Yerlikaya told reporters after inspecting the site. “We are in deep pain,” Turkey’s interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, told reporters after inspecting the site. “We have unfortunately lost 66 lives in the fire that broke out at this hotel.”
The health minister, Kemal Memişoğlu, said at least one of the injured was in serious condition. Yerlikaya said at least 51 other people had been injured.
The fire broke out at about 3.30am in the restaurant of the 12-storey Grand Kartal hotel in the resort of Kartalkaya in Bolu province, officials and reports said. The cause of the fire is under investigation. The health minister, Kemal Memişoğlu, said at least one of the people injured was in a serious condition and that 17 others had been discharged from hospital.
Two of the victims died after jumping from the building in a panic, Bolu’s governor, Abdulaziz Aydin, told the state-run Anadolu Agency. NTV television said some people tried to climb down from their rooms using sheets and blankets. Authorities have detained four people, including the hotel’s owner, as part of an investigation into the cause of the fire, the Turkish justice minister, Yilmaz Tunç, wrote on X.
There were 234 guests staying at the hotel, Aydin said. Several fire engines and ambulances surrounded the charred, wood-fronted building, with white bed sheets tied together and dangling from at least three upper-floor windows where people tried to flee. The firefighting operation lasted about 10 hours.
Necmi Kepcetutan, a ski instructor at the hotel, said he was asleep when the fire started and he rushed out of the building. He told NTV television that he then helped about 20 guests out of the hotel. Yerlikaya said there were 238 guests at the hotel, which is on the side of a cliff and has 161 rooms. Two of the victims died after jumping from the building in a panic, Bolu’s governor, Abdulaziz Aydin, told the state-run Anadolu Agency
He said the hotel was engulfed in smoke, making it difficult for guests to locate the fire escape. “I cannot reach some of my students. I hope they are OK,” he said.
Television images showed the roof and top floors of the hotel on fire.Television images showed the roof and top floors of the hotel on fire.
Witnesses and reports said the hotel’s fire detection system failed to operate. “My wife smelled the burning. The alarm did not go off,” Atakan Yelkovan, a guest staying on the third floor of the hotel, told the IHA news agency. “It was like the apocalypse. The flames engulfed the hotel immediately, like in half an hour,” Mevlut Ozer, who witnessed the incident, told Reuters.
Omer Sakrak, another witness and employee of a neighbouring hotel, said: “People all started to jump with panic. One friend jumped from the 11th floor - may God have mercy on him.”
Sakrak described how others tried to climb down using bed sheets: “The bed sheets ripped as one friend tried ... and he unfortunately fell on his head,” he said. “One father was yelling about his one year-old child: ‘I will throw my child or he will burn’.”
Other hotel guests told Turkish TV broadcasters that they fled through smoke-filled corridors and heard no alarms.
“My wife smelled the burning. The alarm did not go off,” Atakan Yelkovan, a guest staying on the third floor of the hotel, told the IHA news agency.
“We tried to go upstairs but couldn’t, there were flames. We went downstairs and came here [outside],” he said.“We tried to go upstairs but couldn’t, there were flames. We went downstairs and came here [outside],” he said.
Yelkovan said it took about an hour for firefighters to arrive. “People on the upper floors were screaming. They hung down sheets … some tried to jump,” he said. Necmi Kepcetutan, a ski instructor at the hotel, said he was asleep when the fire started and he rushed out of the building. He told NTV that he then helped about 20 guests out of the hotel.
The government has appointed six prosecutors to lead an investigation into the fire. NTV television suggested that the wooden cladding on the exterior of the hotel, in a chalet-style design, may have accelerated the spread.
The 161-room hotel is on the side of a cliff, hampering efforts to combat the flames, the station reported.
NTV showed a smoke-blackened lobby, its glass entrance and windows smashed, its wooden reception desk charred and a chandelier on the ground.
Kartalkaya is a popular ski resort in the Köroğlu mountains, about 185 miles (300km) east of Istanbul. The fire happened during the school semester break when hotels in the region are busy.
Aydin’s office said 30 fire trucks and 28 ambulances were sent to the site.
Other hotels at the resort were evacuated as a precaution and guests were placed in hotels around Bolu.Other hotels at the resort were evacuated as a precaution and guests were placed in hotels around Bolu.
Kartalkaya is located in the Köroğlu mountains, about 185 miles (300km) east of Istanbul. The fire occurred during the school holidays when hotels in the region are busy. Tourism minister, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, told reporters that the Grand Kartal hotel had passed a fire safety inspection last year.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said “every step is being taken” to find out the cause of the fire and to “identify those responsible” and hold them “fully accountable”.
Meanwhile, a gas explosion at a hotel at another ski resort in central Turkey injured four people.Meanwhile, a gas explosion at a hotel at another ski resort in central Turkey injured four people.
The explosion took place at the Yildiz Mountain Winter Sports Center in Sivas province. Two skiers and their instructor were slightly injured while another instructor suffered second-degree burns on the hands and face, the Sivas governor’s office said.The explosion took place at the Yildiz Mountain Winter Sports Center in Sivas province. Two skiers and their instructor were slightly injured while another instructor suffered second-degree burns on the hands and face, the Sivas governor’s office said.