Turkey’s ANKARA (AP) According to authorities, a hotel fire at a ski resort in northwest Turkey on Tuesday left at least ten people dead and thirty-two injured.
According to officials and sources, the restaurant of the 12-story Grand Kartal hotel in the Kartalkaya resort in Bolu province caught fire at approximately 3:30 in the morning. Investigations were underway to determine the cause of the fire.
On Tuesday, January 21, 2025, firefighters fight to put out a fire in a hotel in the Kartalkaya ski resort in Bolu province, northwest Turkey. (IHA through AP)AP
According to Gov. Abdulaziz Aydin, who spoke to the state-run Anadolu Agency, two of the victims perished after frantically jumping from the building. According to private NTV television, some people attempted to use blankets and sheets to climb down from their rooms.
According to Aydin, the hotel had 234 guests.
The hotel’s ski instructor, Necmi Kepcetutan, said that he was asleep when the fire broke out and that he quickly fled the structure. He then assisted about 20 guests in leaving the hotel, he told NTV television.
He claimed that guests had a hard time finding the fire escape because the hotel was completely covered in smoke.
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.
According to accounts and witnesses, the hotel’s fire detection system did not work.
The burning was detected by my wife. Atakan Yelkovan, a visitor staying on the hotel’s third level, told the IHA news agency that 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 higher stories were filled with yelling people. Some of them attempted to jump, he added, while others dangled down sheets.
Six prosecutors were assigned by the government to oversee the fire inquiry. The hotel’s chalet-style wooden cladding on the outside may have contributed to the fire’s rapid spread, according to NTV television.
The station added that efforts to put out the fire are hampered by the 161-room hotel’s location on a cliff.
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.
Located around 300 kilometers (185 miles) east of Istanbul in the Koroglu mountains is the well-known ski resort of Kartalkaya. Hotels in the area are crowded during the school semester break, which is when the incident happened.
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.