A fire in a popular ski resort in Turkey has killed at least 66 people and has injured at least 51 others, the country’s interior minister has said.
The deadly fire broke out at the Grand Kartal hotel in the resort of Kartalkaya in the Bolu mountains in northwestern Turkey. Turkey’s health minister Kemal Memisoglu said at least one of the injured was in serious condition while 17 others have been discharged from the hospital after receiving treatment.
“We are in deep pain,” Ali Yerlikaya, Turkey’s interior minister is quoted as saying to the media. “We have unfortunately lost 66 lives in the fire that broke out in this hotel.”
According to officials, the fire broke out around 3:30 in the morning local time in the 12-storey hotel’s restaurant. Guests were seen jumping out of windows in panic to escape the flames that were engulfing the hotel.
There were 234 guests staying at the hotel at the time of the fire, Bolu Governor Abdulaziz Aydin told Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, adding that at least two of the victims died after jumping from the building in a panic. Other Turkish media reported that some people tried to climb down from their rooms using sheets and blankets.
The fire, the cause of which is under investigation, occurred during the schools’ semester break, when hotels in the region are packed.
Fire comes weeks after deadly blast kills 12 in Turkey
On December 24, 2024 12 people were killed and three others injured in an explosion at an arms factory in Karesi, a district of the country’s western province of Balıkesir.
The incident took place in the factory’s capsule production section located in the rural Kavaklı neighborhood. Authorities have yet to uncover the reason for the blast.
CNN Turk broadcast photographs showing a fireball and smoke rising from the factory building at the time of the blast, while the subsequent video showed the mangled metal framework of the building destroyed in the blast.
Following the explosion, a large number of emergency health and fire department teams were dispatched to the area. Balıkesir Governor Ismail Ustaoğlu told the Anadolu Agency (AA) that teams were immediately directed to the site.
Confirming fatalities and injuries, Ustaoğlu said: “An explosion occurred at the ZSR explosive production facility. After the explosion in the capsule production section, the building collapsed. All our teams are currently here.”