“People were calling for help”: at least 76 dead in Türkiye in hotel fire

If the cause of the disaster is not yet known, controversy and anger are growing among the survivors, who denounce negligence. In the meantime, Turkey is observing national mourning after the fire in a high-altitude hotel on Tuesday January 21, which claimed the lives of at least 76 people in the Kartalkaya ski resort, in the center of the country. The toll of this fire is heavy, in this hotel apparently without an alarm system, which occurred at 3:27 a.m. (0027 GMT), he confirmed, in the Kartalkaya ski resort 170 km east of Ankara in central Turkey.

According to the Turkish Interior Minister, Ali Yerlikaya, who visited the site this Tuesday, January 21, “The fire is now under control.” Et « cooling operations »they continue. He also added that 238 guests were registered at the twelve-story luxury property, Grand Kartal at the time.

“Some threw themselves into the void”

The day after the tragedy, twenty patients remained hospitalized in Bolu, the provincial capital located 35 km from the station, including one in serious condition. The hospital received a total of thirty patients, ten of whom were discharged, according to the provincial health directorate. Searches to find possible victims in the hotel with its blackened facade resumed on Wednesday January 22.

“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 » he continued.

Indeed, according to the private television channel NTV, at least three people died jumping out of windows. Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc, who also visited the site, announced the opening of an investigation entrusted to “six prosecutors” and the formation of a committee of experts to support them.

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

428 firefighters mobilized

And images taken by drone bear witness to the devastation in the roof and upper floors of the establishment. The hotel, 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.

Hotel employees helped evacuate guests, but witnesses and media on site denounce the absence 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 with his family since Sunday in the establishment, reports Agence France-Presse.