
Ankara:
A fire broke out at a ski resort hotel in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday morning, killing 66 people and injuring 32 others. According to media reports, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said that at 3:27 am local time (0027 GMT) a fire broke out in the restaurant of the 12-storey Grand Kartal Hotel in the mountaintop resort of Kartalakaya.
It is being told that many died due to jumping from the building in panic. Local media also reported that guests were trying to get down from their rooms using sheets and blankets.
In the viral footage, the roof and upper floors of the hotel were seen on fire, a plume of smoke was rising into the sky and a snow-covered mountain was visible in the background.
Due to school holidays, the hotel was 80-90% full, with more than 230 guests checked in.
Necmi Kapsetutan, a ski instructor at the hotel, told media that they had helped evacuate about 20 people from the building, but it was difficult to find escape routes from the fire because of the smoke. “I haven’t been able to reach some of my students, I hope they are okay,” he said.
The blaze is said to have spread quickly due to the design of the 161-room hotel, which has wooden chalet-style cladding.
Officials said 30 fire engines and 28 ambulances were dispatched to the scene, but the hotel was located on a cliff. Because of this, the efforts of firefighters to control the fire were greatly hampered.
As a precaution, other nearby hotels were evacuated, and guests were relocated to other locations.
Kartalakaya is a popular ski resort in the Koroglu mountains, located about 300 kilometers (185 mi) east of Istanbul and 170 kilometers (100 mi) northwest of the capital Ankara.
Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunç has appointed six prosecutors to investigate the incident.
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