Death toll from Turkey ski resort fire climbs to 66
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Death toll from Turkey ski resort fire climbs to 66

Authorities believe blaze started in restaurant and spread quickly in wood-clad building

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The fire broke out inside a 12-storey hotel with wooden cladding at the Kartalkaya ski resort in Bolu between Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo: AFP)
The fire broke out inside a 12-storey hotel with wooden cladding at the Kartalkaya ski resort in Bolu between Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo: AFP)

The number of dead after a fire that engulfed a hotel at a ski resort in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday rose to 66, the interior minister said.

Witnesses said desperate guests had tried to escape using ropes, footage showed bedsheets hanging from the windows, and media reports suggest some had died after trying to jump to safety.

Several ministers have arrived at the scene at the Kartalkaya resort around 170 kilometres northwest of the capital Ankara, and officials said the fire had now been contained.

“Our pain is great,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told reporters at Kartalkaya. “Sixty-six citizens lost their lives and 51 others wounded.”

The blaze broke out at 3.27am local time in the 12-storey Grand Kartal hotel, which has wooden cladding, he said.

Some 238 guests were registered as staying at the hotel, the minister added, a peak time during a two-week school holiday.

The private broadcaster NTV said the dead included three people who had jumped from the hotel’s windows.

The fire is believed to have started in the restaurant and spread quickly, though it was not immediately clear what caused it.

Part of the structure backs onto a cliff, making it harder for firefighters to tackle the blaze. (Story continues below)

‘I heard screams’

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cut short an address to his ruling AKP party congress in Ankara, saying: “Our pain is great, our heartache is great.”

He said administrative and judicial investigations have been launched into the cause of the fire.

“All necessary steps will be taken to shed light on all aspects of the incident and to hold those responsible accountable,” he promised.

Television footage showed huge plumes of smoke rising into the sky with a snowcapped mountain behind the hotel.

“I heard screams around midnight, (hotel) residents were shouting for help,” Baris Salgur, who works at a nearby hotel, told NTV.

“They asked for a blanket, saying they will jump. We did what we could, we brought rope, pillows, we brought a sofa. Some people threw themselves once the flames approached them.”

‘No safety’

Video showed the wrecked lobby of the hotel with shards of glass on the floor, the reception desk and the wooden furniture inside charred black.

Authorities warned the building could collapse.

A survivor who managed to escape the flames told local media that no alarms rang at the hotel when the fire started, complaining about the lack of any safety measures including fire stairs or smoke detectors.

Tourism Minister Nuri Ersoy said the hotel had two fire escapes.

Video revealed hotel bedsheets hanging from the hotel’s windows indicating some people had tied them in order to escape the blaze.

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said six prosecutors had been allocated to investigate the blaze.

Those evacuated were rehoused in nearby hotels.

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