Keystone-SDA
Anger is brewing in Turkey and in the ski resort of Kartalkaya (center) where the fire in a luxury hotel apparently lacking security systems left at least 76 dead on Tuesday, according to the latest report available in the evening.
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January 21, 2025 – 8:53 p.m.
(Keystone-ATS) According to Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, who had also previously mentioned the number of 51 injured, identification work continued overnight at the hospital in Bolu, the regional capital where the victims were transported.
Following this tragedy, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a day of national mourning on Wednesday.
The fire broke out for a still unknown reason in the middle of the night, at 3:27 a.m. according to the authorities, in the Grand Kartal hotel in Kartalkaya, a twelve-story establishment located at an altitude of more than 2,000 m, which accommodated 238 customers on winter vacation in Türkiye.
“People were screaming, they hung up sheets to try to get out, some jumped out of windows but others had children, friends… There was no emergency exit,” denounced Atakan Yelkovan, a thirty-year-old who was staying on the third floor with his wife and was able to go down quickly.
“No firefighters”
“There were no firefighters around. It took about an hour to an hour and a half for them to arrive,” he assured the Turkish agency IHA.
Starting from the upper floors, the disaster quickly spread to the rest of the building due to the exterior wooden cladding, leaving few escape routes for sleeping vacationers.
IHA video shows customers at windows at night, calling for help: “Where are the firefighters? Help us! »
As immense flames ravaged the building, hotel employees helped evacuate guests.
“I saw a father with his baby in his arms asking for pillows to throw his son, fortunately he waited for help who saved them. But on the top floor, two women threw themselves into the void before my eyes, they were killed instantly,” he reported, in a state of shock, to IHA.
“People were calling for help, they were asking for blankets so they could get out through the windows,” testified Baris Salgur, an employee at a nearby hotel.
“We brought them what we found, ropes, pillows, and even a sofa… When the flames approached them, some threw themselves into the void.”
-According to private television channel NTV, at least three people died jumping out of windows.
“The final searches will be carried out tomorrow (Wednesday) morning by teams from Afad” the Turkish relief agency, assured Minister Yerlikaya, pointing out the night which hampers the work, shortly after 10:00 p.m.
Compliance
He promised that “all measures will be taken if the investigation shows that there has been negligence or that faults have been committed”.
But anger has taken over the media and social networks, with everyone questioning, once again after such tragedies, the security measures and especially the compliance of the establishment.
The Minister of Tourism, Bakan Ersoy, assured on X that the hotel had been inspected and certified by the firefighters in 2021 and 2024.
But several witnesses denounced the absence of an alert and evacuation system.
“No alarm went off, no smoke detector or emergency staircase even though there was smoke up to the tenth floor,” said a crying fifty-year-old on television, who had been staying with family since Sunday in the establishment.
Images taken by drone demonstrate the devastation in the roof and upper floors of the hotel, installed at the top of a cliff to have a panoramic view, which complicated the intervention of the 428 firefighters mobilized, said the Minister of the Interior, who came on site with several members of the government.
Four people were arrested on Tuesday, including the hotel owner, and taken into police custody, announced Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc.
An investigation was entrusted to “six prosecutors”, supported by a committee of experts, he said.
Tuesday evening, families were gathered in front of Bolu hospital, the morgue of which received the bodies of the victims and nineteen injured people, including one in serious condition.
Before his AKP party, meeting in congress, Mr. Erdogan also assured that “everything will be done to shed light on all aspects of the tragedy and to hold those responsible to account.”
Many countries, including Germany, neighboring Greece, Ukraine, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, European Union officials and Russian President Vladimir Putin have sent their condolences and expressed solidarity after the tragedy.
