A fire at a ski resort hotel in Turkey’s Bolu Mountains killed at least 76 people and injured 51 others on Tuesday, forcing panicked guests to jump out of windows in the middle of the night.
“It was like the apocalypse. The flames engulfed the hotel immediately, like in half an hour,” said Mevlut Ozer, who witnessed the incident at the Kartalkaya ski resort in northwest Turkey.
The fire began about 3.30am (12.30am Irish time) on the restaurant floor of the 12-storey Grand Kartal Hotel, authorities said.
Several fire engines and ambulances later surrounded the charred, wood-fronted building, with white bed sheets tied together and dangling from at least three upper-floor windows where people tried to flee.
“People all started to jump with panic. One friend jumped from the 11th floor – may God have mercy on him,” said Omer Sakrak, another witness and employee of a neighbouring hotel.
“They tried to climb down using bedsheets. The bedsheets ripped as one friend tried … and he unfortunately fell on his head,” he said. “One father was yelling about his one year-old child: ‘I will throw my child or he will burn’.”
Hotel guests told TV broadcasters they fled through smoke-filled corridors and heard no alarms.
Interior minister Ali Yerlikaya said there were 238 guests at the hotel, situated at the base of several ski slopes, and which smouldered until the afternoon.
“I would like to share this pain, which is impossible to describe,” he said at the resort in offering condolences and announcing that the fire was extinguished.
“Since the back of the hotel is on a slope, fire extinguishing efforts could only be carried out from the front and side facades,” he said, adding crews began battling the mountaintop blaze about 45 minutes after the first call.
Health minister Kemal Memisoglu said at least one of the injured was in a serious condition.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a day of national mourning to be observed on Wednesday. All flags at government buildings and Turkish diplomatic missions abroad would be lowered to half-mast, he said.
The government appointed six prosecutors to lead an investigation into the blaze, which is believed to have started in the hotel’s restaurant section. Justice minister Yilmaz Tunc said four people, including the hotel’s owner, were detained for questioning as part of the investigation.
Necmi Kepcetutan, a ski instructor at the hotel, said he was asleep when the fire erupted and he rushed out of the building. He told NTV television that he then helped some 20 guests out of the hotel.
He said the hotel was engulfed in smoke, making it difficult for guests to find the fire escape. “I cannot reach some of my students. I hope they are okay,” he told the station.
Television images showed the roof and top floors of the hotel on fire.
Witnesses and reports said the hotel’s fire detection system failed to operate.
“My wife smelled the burning. The alarm did not go off,” Atakan Yelkovan, a guest staying on the third floor of the hotel, told the IHA news agency. “We tried to go upstairs but couldn’t, there were flames. We went downstairs and came here [outside],” he said.
Mr Yelkovan said it took about an hour for firefighters to arrive. “People on the upper floors were screaming. They hung down sheets … some tried to jump,” he said.
NTV television suggested that the wooden cladding on the exterior of the hotel, in a chalet-style design, may have accelerated the spread of the fire.
Part of the 161-room hotel is on the side of a cliff, hampering efforts to combat the flames. “Because the rear side is on a slope, intervention could only be made from the front and sides,” Mr Yerlikaya confirmed.
Tourism minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said the hotel underwent inspections in 2021 and 2024 and that “no negative situation regarding fire competence” was reported by the fire department.
In an address in Ankara, Mr Erdogan said: “Unfortunately, we received very sad news this morning from Bolu, Kartalkaya. Our brothers and sisters were killed and injured in a fire that broke out in a hotel.”
“All necessary steps will be taken to shed light on all aspects of the incident and to hold those responsible accountable,” he added.
NTV showed a smoke-blackened lobby, its glass entrance and windows smashed, its wooden reception desk charred and a chandelier crashed to the ground.
Kartalkaya is a popular ski resort in the Koroglu mountains, some 300km east of Istanbul. The fire occurred during school holidays when hotels in the region are packed.
Mr Aydin’s office said 30 fire engines and 28 ambulances were sent to the site.
Other hotels at the resort were evacuated as a precaution and guests were placed in hotels around Bolu.
Meanwhile, a gas explosion at a hotel at another ski resort in central Turkey injured four people.
The explosion took place at the Yildiz Mountain Winter Sports Centre in Sivas province. Two skiers and their instructor were slightly injured while another instructor received second-degree burns on the hands and face, the Sivas governor’s office said. – Reuters/AP
