Turkey’s ANKARA According to reports, at least 66 people were killed when a 12-story hotel at a well-known ski resort in northwest Turkey caught fire early on Tuesday during a school holiday. At least two of the victims died when they fled the building by jumping.
According to Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, the Grand Kartal hotel fire in Kartalkaya, in the Koroglu mountains of Bolu province, about 185 miles east of Istanbul, also injured at least 51 people. The incident happened close to the beginning of the two-week school winter vacation, when lodging in the area is at its peak.
We are in excruciating discomfort. After examining the scene, Yerlikaya informed reporters, “Unfortunately, the fire that started at this hotel has claimed 66 lives.”
There was mayhem on the top levels as other visitors attempted to flee the fire, including by attempting to use blankets and sheets to climb down from their rooms, according to third-floor hotel visitor Atakan Yelkovan, who spoke to the IHA news agency.
The higher stories were filled with yelling people. Sheets were draped down. According to Yelkovan, some attempted to jump.
At least one of the injured was in critical condition, according to Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu, while the other seventeen were treated and allowed to go.
According to Yerlikaya, there were 238 registered guests at the hotel. He told reporters the fire department started responding at 4:15 a.m. after the incident was reported at 3:27 a.m.
Six prosecutors were assigned by the government to oversee the inquiry into the fire, which is thought to have originated in the restaurant area of the hotel. Four persons, including the hotel’s owner, were taken into custody for interrogation as part of the investigation, according to Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc.
Earlier, Gov. Abdulaziz Aydin told the state-run Anadolu Agency that at least two of the victims died after they leaped from the building in fear.
The hotel’s ski instructor, Necmi Kepcetutan, said that he was asleep when the fire broke out and that he hastily left the structure. He then assisted about 20 guests in leaving the hotel, he told NTV television.
According to him, the smoke filled the hotel, making it hard for visitors to find the fire escape.
Some of my students are out of my reach. The ski instructor told the station, “I hope they’re okay.”
The hotel’s roof and upper stories were on fire, according to television footage.
The hotel’s fire detection system may not have worked, according to reports and witnesses.
The burning was detected by my wife. According to Yelkovan, the visitor interviewed by IHA, the alarm did not sound. We attempted to get upstairs but were unable to do so due to the fire. He said, “We came here (outside) after going downstairs.”
According to Yelkovan, it took around an hour for the fire crews to show up.
The hotel’s chalet-style wooden cladding on the outside may have contributed to the fire’s rapid spread, according to NTV television.
Efforts to contain the fire are hampered by the fact that a portion of the 161-room hotel is perched on a cliff.
Yerlikaya stated that only the front and sides may be used for intervention because the back side is sloping.
Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, the minister of tourism, informed reporters that the hotel was inspected in 2021 and 2024 and that the fire service had not found any issues with fire competency.
“Unfortunately, we received very sad news this morning from Bolu, Kartalkaya,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated at a speech in Ankara. A hotel fire claimed the lives of our brothers and sisters and injured others.
He went on to say that every effort will be made to clarify every facet of the situation and hold those culpable.
NTV showed a smoke-blackened lobby with shattered windows and a glass entry, a burnt wooden reception desk, and a chandelier that had fallen to the floor.
According to Aydin’s office, 28 ambulances and 30 fire trucks were dispatched to the scene.
As a precaution, other resort hotels were evacuated, and visitors were accommodated in hotels in the Bolu area.
Four individuals were hurt in a gas explosion that occurred at a hotel in a different central Turkish ski resort.
The Yildiz Mountain Winter Sports Center in Sivas province is where the explosion occurred. According to the Sivas governor’s office, one teacher suffered second-degree burns to his hands and face, while two skiers and their instructor suffered minor injuries.
The Associated Press
