Hotel-Brand in Kartalkaya –
76 dead in Turkish ski resort – hotel owner arrested
Many hotel guests are sleeping when a fire suddenly breaks out. In desperation, some jump from the upper floors.
Firefighters are working to extinguish the fire at the hotel in Bolu province.
Photo: HERE via AP
Subscribe now and benefit from the read-aloud function.
BotTalk
The number of deaths in a fire at a hotel in a ski resort in northwestern Turkey has risen to at least 76, according to government figures. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told reporters on Tuesday that 52 people were injured. «We feel deep pain. “We unfortunately lost 76 lives in the fire that broke out in this hotel.” Health Minister Kemla Memisoglu spoke of at least one injured person who was in critical condition. According to Yerlikaya, the fire broke out on Tuesday night in the restaurant of the twelve-story Grand Kartel hotel in the Kartalkaya ski resort in Bolu province.
Kartalkaya is a popular ski resort in the Koroglu Mountains and is located around 300 kilometers east of Istanbul.
Two of the victims died when they jumped out of the building in a panic, Governor Abdulaziz Aydin told the state news agency Anadolu. Some tried to get out of their hotel rooms using knotted sheets and blankets. According to Aydin, more than 230 guests stayed in the 161-room hotel. 30 fire engines and 28 ambulances were used for the rescue. Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said four people, including the hotel owner, had been detained for questioning.
Television footage showed the roof and upper floors of the hotel burning. Ski instructor Necmi Kepcetutan reported that he was sleeping when the fire broke out. He then rushed out of the hotel and helped around 20 guests escape from the building, he told the NTV broadcaster. The hotel was covered in smoke, which made it difficult for guests to find the emergency exit. “I can’t reach some of my students. I hope they’re doing well,” said the ski instructor.
Aerial view of the affected hotel in Kartalkaya.
Photo: DHA (Demiroren News Agency/AFP)
According to witnesses, the hotel’s fire alarm system did not work. «My wife smelled the fire. The alarm didn’t go off,” Atakan Yelkovan, a guest on the third floor of the hotel, told the IHA news agency. It took about an hour for the fire department to arrive. “The people upstairs were screaming. They hung sheets down,” Yelkovan said. “Some tried to jump.”
-The government appointed six prosecutors to investigate the cause of the fire. The NTV report speculated that the wooden cladding on the mountain lodge-style facade of the hotel may have helped the fire spread. The hotel is located directly on a slope, which is supposed to hinder firefighting.
NTV showed footage of the smoke-blackened lobby with a smashed glass entrance. The wooden reception desk was charred and a chandelier had fallen to the floor.
Devastating sight in daylight: the fire department extinguishing the fire in the hotel.
Photo: Keystone
Kartalkaya is a popular ski resort in the Koroglu Mountains and is located around 300 kilometers east of Istanbul. The fire occurred during the school holidays, so hotels in the region are full. Other guesthouses in the ski resort were evacuated as a precaution and the customers were accommodated in other hotels in Bolu.
Explosion in another hotel
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, 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.
Under suspicion
Get the background information on current court cases that are affecting Switzerland.
More newsletters
Log in
DPA/nag
Found an error? Report now.
