- A fire broke out overnight in a hotel in a ski resort in Turkey.
- According to authorities, at least 76 people were killed. At least 51 others were injured.
- It is not yet clear why the fire broke out. There are currently school holidays in Türkiye, which is why the hotel was fully booked.
According to the provincial governor Abdülaziz Aydin, 234 people stayed in the hotel. The fire broke out at 3:30 a.m. local time (1:30 a.m. CET) on the floor where there is also a restaurant. According to the Anadolu news agency, several dozen fire engines and ambulances were sent to the scene.
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Legend:
The fire burned on the upper floors of the hotel.
HERE via AP
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Legend:
The fire is now under control. The Kartalkaya ski resort is a popular destination for winter vacationers.
REUTERS/Mert Ozkan
The fire is now under control. Emergency services on site are still busy with “cooling down work,” said Yerlikaya. The hotel is built on a slope, so we couldn’t clear it from all sides. Pictures showed a black charred building.
Videos on social media from the morning showed people on the top floors calling for help. “We can’t go down, help us,” they shout from the hotel window. Flames can be seen behind them. Those standing below answer, some helplessly: “Where is the fire department?”
Hotel owner arrested
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The hotel owner and three other people have been arrested in connection with the hotel fire. Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc wrote this on the X platform.
Six attorneys general have been commissioned to investigate.
A reporter from CNN Türk said that strong winds made the fire-fighting work more difficult. The emergency services continued to fight the flames on Tuesday morning. The cause of the fire was initially unclear and an investigation was launched.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his condolences to the victims and said those guilty would be held accountable.
Older wooden building
The town’s mayor, Tanju Özcan, said the hotel is one of the oldest in the area and is made primarily of wood. This could have allowed the fire to spread quickly.
Videos showed people trying to escape the windows at night by tying their sheets together. An eyewitness told the newspaper “Hürriyet” that he saw people jumping out of the window. Due to the heavy smoke, it was difficult to find the stairs to the emergency exit.
According to the governor’s statement this morning, two people died after jumping out of the window. One victim said on Turkish television that she was staying on the sixth floor of the hotel with her husband and daughter and suddenly heard cries for help. They wouldn’t have been able to find the door or fire escape because of the smoke. Her husband jumped out of the window.
Another explosion also occurred in the morning in a two-story winter sports hotel in Sivas, central Anatolia. Four people were injured – two trainers and two skiers, as the state news agency Anadolu reported.
One of the women was seriously injured and had second-degree burns on her hands and face. How the explosion occurred is still unclear.
