A fire at a hotel in a popular ski resort in northwest Turkey on Tuesday killed at least 66 peoplesaid the Turkish interior minister.
But Yerlikaya said at least 51 other people were injured in the accident.
“We are in deep pain. Unfortunately, we lost 66 lives in the fire that broke out in this hotel,” Yerlikaya told reporters after inspecting the site.
A fire engulfed a 12-story hotel as firefighters worked to put out the flames in Bolu, northwest Turkey, on Tuesday. (IHA)
Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu said that at least one of the injured was in serious condition.
The fire broke out around 3:30 a.m. in the restaurant of the 12-story Grand Kartal Hotel in the resort town of Kartalkaya in Bol province, officials and reports said. The cause of the fire was under investigation.
Two victims died after jumping from the building in panic, Governor Abdulaziz Aydin told the state-run Anadolu Agency. Private broadcaster NTV said some people tried to get out of their rooms using sheets and blankets.
234 guests stayed in the hotel, said Aydin.
A STUDENT ATHLETE DIED IN A TRAGIC ACCIDENT ON THE DIFFICULT TRACK AT THE SKI AREA
Necmi Kepcetutan, a ski instructor at the hotel, said he was asleep when the fire broke out and rushed out of the building. He told NTV television that he then helped twenty guests to leave the hotel.
He said the hotel was engulfed in smoke, making it difficult for guests to locate the fire escape.
“I can’t reach some of my students. I hope they’re OK,” the ski instructor told the station.
Television images showed the roof and upper floors of the hotel in flames.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a joint press statement in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, April 22, 2024. (Ahmad Al-Rubaye /Pool photo via AP)
Witnesses and reports say the hotel’s fire detection system was not working.
“My wife smelled burning. The alarm didn’t go off,” Atakan Yelkovan, a guest staying on the third floor of the hotel, told the IHA news agency.
“We tried to go up, but we couldn’t, there were flames. We went down and came here (outside),” he said.
Yelkovan said it took fire crews about an hour to arrive.
“People on the upper floors were screaming. They were hanging sheets… some tried to jump,” he said.
A TEENAGER DIED ON A SKI SKI NEAR A CLASSY MOUNTAIN TOWN
A general view of the Consulate General of Turkey in New York, New York on Tuesday, November 14, 2023. (Fox News Digital)
The government appointed six prosecutors to lead the investigation into the fire. NTV television suggested that the wooden cladding on the outside of the hotel, in the design of a mountain house, may have accelerated the spread of the fire.
The 161-room hotel sits on a cliff, hampering efforts to fight the flames, the station also reported.
NTV showed the lobby darkened by smoke, its glass entrance and windows broken, the wooden reception desk burned and the chandelier knocked to the ground.
Kartalkaya is a popular ski resort in Koroglu mountainssome 300 kilometers (185 miles) east of Istanbul. The fire happened during the school holidays when the hotels in the region are full.
Aydin’s office said 30 fire engines and 28 ambulances were sent to the scene.
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Other hotels in the resort were evacuated as a precaution, and guests were accommodated in hotels in the vicinity of Bolu.
Meanwhile, a gas explosion in a hotel on another ski resort in central Turkey four people were injured.
The explosion occurred in the winter sports center of Mount Yildiz in the province of Sivas. Two skiers and their instructor were slightly injured, while the second instructor received second-degree burns on his hands and face, the office of the governor of Sivas announced.
