The fire broke out on the night of Monday to Tuesday in the restaurant of a hotel in the Kartalkaya resort in the province of Bolu, announced Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya.
Two of the victims died after jumping from the building in panic, Governor Abdulaziz Aydin told state-run Anadolu news agency. Private broadcaster NTV said some people tried to get out of their rooms using sheets.
The hotel had 234 guests, Abdulaziz Aydin said.
Necmi Kepcetutan, a ski instructor at the hotel, said he was sleeping when the fire broke out and rushed out of the building. He told broadcaster NTV that he then helped around 20 guests out of the hotel.
He added that the hotel was filled with smoke, making it difficult for guests to locate the emergency exit.
“I can’t reach some of my students. I hope they are well,” declared the ski instructor to the channel.
Television images showed the roof and upper floors of the hotel on fire.
-The cause of the fire was not immediately established. Broadcaster NTV suggested that the wooden cladding of the hotel’s exterior may have accelerated the spread of the fire.
Kartalkaya is a popular ski resort located in the Koroglu Mountains, some 300 kilometers east of Istanbul. The fire happened during school holidays, when hotels in the area are packed.
Abdulaziz Aydin’s office said 30 fire trucks and 28 ambulances were sent to the site.
Other hotels in the resort were evacuated as a precaution.
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