The death toll from a fire that engulfed a 12-storey timber-clad hotel at a popular ski resort in northwestern Turkey has now risen to 66. That is according to Turkish officials at the scene of the disaster who have expressed great “pain” at the tragedy. Witnesses at the scene said desperate guests had tried to escape using ropes, footage showed bedsheets hanging from the windows, and media reports suggest some had died after attempting to jump to safety.
“Our pain is great,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told reporters at the resort in Kartalkaya, around 170 kilometres northwest of the capital Ankara. He added that “66 citizens lost their lives and 51 others were wounded” as officials said that the fire had now been contained.
Minister Yerlikaya said the blaze broke out at 3:27 a.m. (0027 GMT) in the 12-storey Grand Kartal hotel with wooden cladding. The minister added that some 238 guests were registered at the hotel. It was a peak time during a two-week school holiday.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said that Turkish authorities detained four suspects, including the owner of the resort hotel. The minister previously announced that six prosecutors had been allocated to investigate the blaze. Private broadcaster NTV said that the dead included three people who had jumped from the hotel’s windows – with the fire believed to have started in the restaurant and spread quickly through the hotel.
Part of the building backs onto a cliff, making it harder for firefighters to tackle the blaze.
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 snow-capped 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 television. “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.”