at least 66 dead in ski resort hotel fire

At least sixty-six people died and 51 were injured in a fire in their hotel, apparently without an alarm system, which occurred in the middle of the night on Tuesday in a ski resort in central Turkey.

According to Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, who confirmed this report in the middle of the afternoon, the fire broke out “at 3:27 a.m. (00:27 GMT)”while 238 guests were registered in the twelve-story luxury establishment, the Grand Kartal, located in Kartalkaya, a ski resort 170 km east of Ankara.

“The fire is now under control and cooling operations” continue, added the minister who went to the site with several other members of the government.

Four people were arrested and taken into custody, including the hotel manager, announced Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc.

The cause of the disaster is not yet known but controversy and anger are already growing among survivors who denounce negligence.

Hotel employees helped evacuate guests, but witnesses denounced the lack of alarms and smoke detectors.

“No alarm went off, no smoke detector or emergency staircase even though there was smoke up to the tenth floor”denounced, on television, a crying fifty-year-old, who had been staying with his family since Sunday in the establishment.

Through the windows

“People were calling for help, asking for blankets so they could get out through the windows”testified Baris Salgur, employee of 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 fire started on the upper floors and then quickly spread to the rest of the building due to the exterior wooden cladding, reported Turkish media whose images showed large flames escaping from the upper windows and the roof, as well as only plumes of black smoke.

The images taken by drone bear witness to the devastation in the roof and in the upper floors of the establishment, installed at the top of a cliff to have a panoramic view, which complicated the intervention of the 428 firefighters mobilized and arrived on the scene at 4:15 a.m., said the Minister of the Interior.

He promised that “all measures will be taken if the investigation shows that there has been negligence or that faults have been committed”.

The Minister of Justice announced that an investigation had been entrusted to “six prosecutors” which will be supported by a committee of experts.

In front of his AKP party, meeting in congress, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also assured that “everything will be done to shed light on all aspects of the tragedy and to hold those responsible to account”.