ANKARA (KAAB TV) – A fire broke out at a 12-story hotel in a popular tourist resort in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday morning during the school holidays, killing at least 76 people. – at least two of them jumped from the building to escape the fire, officials said.
At least 51 people were also injured in the fire at the Grand Kartal hotel in Kartalkaya, in the Koroglu mountains of Bolu province, about 300 kilometers (185 miles) east of Istanbul, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. The fire happened near the start of a two-week winter school break, when hotels in the region were full.
“Our hearts are broken. We are sad,” said Yerlikaya who spoke to the press outside the hotel. But you should know that whoever is responsible for this disease will not escape justice.
Atakan Yelkovan, a hotel guest on the third floor, told IHA news agency that there was chaos on the upper floors as other guests tried to escape, including trying to get down from their rooms using the stairs. sheets and blankets.
“The people on the upper floors were screaming. They hung sheets… Some tried to jump,” Yelkvan said.
Yerlikaya said that 45 of the 76 people killed have been identified while efforts are underway to identify the other victims.
“Forty-five bodies have been delivered to their families. We will not be able (immediately) to identify the others,” Yerlikaya said, adding that emergency teams will conduct a final examination of the victims on Wednesday.
Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu said at least one of the injured was in critical condition, while 17 others were treated and released.
The hotel has registered 238 guests, Yerlikaya said. The fire was reported at 3:27 a.m., and the fire department began responding at 4:15 a.m., he told reporters.
The government has appointed six prosecutors to lead the investigation into the fire, which is believed to have started in the restaurant section of the hotel. Nine people have been arrested as part of the fire investigation, Yerlikaya said. Earlier, the Minister of Justice Yilmaz Tunc said that the owner of the hotel was one of the people arrested for questioning in the investigation.
At least two of the victims died when they jumped from the building in panic, as Gov. Abdulaziz Aydin The government-run agency of Anadolu. The people who were killed were Nedim Turkmen, a writer for Sozcu newspaper, his wife and two children, as the newspaper announced.
Necmi Kepcetutan, a ski instructor at the hotel, said he was asleep when the fire broke out and left the building. He told NTV television that he then helped about 20 people out of the hotel.
The hotel was engulfed in smoke, making it difficult for guests to find fire extinguishers, he said.
“I can’t reach some of my students. I hope they are OK,” the ice coach told the station.
Television footage showed the roof and upper floors of the hotel on fire.
Witnesses and reports suggested that the hotel’s fire extinguishing system had failed.
“My wife smelled the burning. The noise has not stopped,” said Yelkovan, a guest interviewed by IHA. “We tried to go up but we couldn’t, there were flames. We went down to this floor and came here (outside),” he said.
Yelkovan said it took about an hour for fire crews to arrive.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a day of national mourning on Wednesday. All flags in government buildings and Turkish diplomatic missions abroad will be lowered to half-staff, he said.
Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy told reporters that the hotel was inspected in 2021 and 2024 “there is no bad situation in terms of fire power” reported by the fire department.
In a speech in Ankara, Erdogan said: “Unfortunately, we received sad news this morning from Bolu, Kartalkaya. Our brothers were killed and injured in a fire in a hotel.