Fire erupts at ski resort hotel in Turkey, kills at least 66

A fire erupted at a ski resort hotel in Turkey’s northwestern Bolu province in the early hours, killing at least 66 people and injuring 51.

Tuesday January 21 2025 02:11 pm

Duvar English

A fire at Grand Kartal Hotel, located at a ski resort in Turkey’s northwestern Bolu province, killed at least 66 people on Jan. 21.

The fire erupted at 3.27 a.m. local time at the hotel located in the Kartalkaya ski resort in the Köroğlu Mountains.

Bolu Governor Abdulaziz Aydın said the fire erupted at the restaurant section on the 4th floor and spread to the upper floors.

Around 3 p.m. on Jan. 21, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced that the fire left 66 dead and 51 injured. Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu said one injured was under critical condition, while 17 people were discharged from hospital.

The authorities also warned that the fire might collapse the mostly wooden hotel.

Footage showed people trying to escape from the hotel by tying the sheets and hanging them from the windows during the fire.

The reportedly lack of security measures and fire escape at the hotel drew ire.

Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan said the municipality did not know whether there was a fire escape or a sprinkler system, “because this is an area belonging to the National Parks, 45 kilometers from the center of Bolu. Since we, as the municipality, do not issue the licenses of the hotels here, we unfortunately do not have information.”

The Tourism Ministry issued a license to the hotel back in 1997, he noted. “We do not have any information in our records.”

“This is a difficult area to reach. The nearest fire brigade can reach here in 45 minutes,” Özcan added.

Some 234 people were staying in the hotel during the fire, Özcan informed.

A hotel personnel told BBC Turkish that the first firefighters came around 04.00 a.m., about 45 minutes after the fire erupted. People who were inside the hotel at the time of the fire reported that they did not hear a fire alarm but woke up to commotion.

Meanwhile, a judicial investigation was launched into the disaster, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç announced.