In Türkiye, 78 dead in ski resort hotel fire

Seventy-eight people died in the fire which ravaged their hotel, in the middle of the night on Tuesday, in a ski resort in central Turkey, according to a new report, Thursday January 23, from the Ministry of Justice, announcing the end of the work to identify the victims at the hospital in Bolu, the regional capital. After this tragedy, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that a day of national mourning would take place on Wednesday.

A previous count showed sixty-six dead and fifty-one injured, announced the Minister of the Interior, Ali Yerlikaya, who visited the site. Entire families perished in the fire at the Grand Kartal hotel in Kartalkaya, which broke out on Tuesday shortly before 3:30 a.m. (1:30 a.m. in Paris), according to the authorities.

Accusations of negligence have multiplied since then. Survivors and experts noted in particular that the fire alarm system of the twelve-story hotel had not worked. The president of the Ankara Chamber of Architecture, Derya Basyilmaz, who visited the site, also told Agence France-Presse that the establishment had only one staircase serving as an emergency exit and that this this was not “compliant with standards”.

Eleven people, including a deputy mayor of Bolu, the city’s fire chief, the owner of Grand Kartal, its general manager and its chief electrician, have been arrested since Tuesday as part of an investigation by the authorities.

According to Tanju Ozcan, the mayor of Bolu, which includes the Kartalkaya station, the fire was brought under control late Tuesday morning and local authorities now fear the collapse of the ten-story building. The Kartalkaya station, located 170 kilometers northwest of Ankara, is backed by a cliff, which complicated the intervention of firefighters.

Nearly 270 firefighters and rescuers were mobilized to put out the fire which broke out on the upper floors, for a reason still unknown, explained the Turkish Minister of Justice, Yilmaz Tunç. It then quickly spread to the rest of the building due to the wooden cladding, Turkish media reported, whose images showed large flames coming from upper windows and the roof, as well as plumes of black smoke.

More than 230 guests were in the hotel, in the middle of the national winter holidays, said the private television channel NTV, which claimed that three people died by jumping out of the windows.

Lack of alarm and smoke detector

Employees of the hotel, the Grand Kartal, helped evacuate guests, but witnesses and media on site denounced the absence of an alarm and smoke detector. “No alarm went off, [il n’y avait] no smoke detector or [de] emergency exit, while 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.

“People were calling for help, asking for blankets so they could get out through the windowstestified 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. »

The Minister of Justice announced the opening of an investigation entrusted to “six prosecutors” and the formation of a committee of experts to support them. Before his formation, the Justice and Development Party, gathered in congress, Recep Tayyip Erdogan also assured that “everything will be[it] implemented to shed light on all aspects of the tragedy and to hold those responsible to account”.

Many countries, including Germany, Greece, Ukraine, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, European Union officials and Russian President Vladimir Putin, have expressed their condolences and solidarity after this tragedy.