PodcastTurkish authorities arrest deputy mayor over deadly ski resort fire
A Turkish court has ordered the arrests of Bolu Deputy Mayor Sedat Gülener, Fire Chief Kenan Coşkun, and firefighter İrfan Acar, in connection to the ski resort fire that claimed 78 lives, raising the total arrests to 19.
Reuters
A Turkish court on Jan. 26 arrested Bolu Deputy Mayor Sedat Gülener, acting Fire Chief Kenan Coşkun, and a firefighter as part of an investigation into a fire that killed 78 people and injured dozens at a ski resort in the Bolu mountains.
The Bolu Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office continued its investigation into the fire that broke out on January 21. Gülener, Coşkun, firefighter İrfan Acar, and the hotel’s interior designer, identified as A.B., were sent to Bolu Courthouse.
Interior designer A.B. was released after questioning, while Gülener, Coşkun, and Acar were referred to the court with a request for their arrest.
The judgeship ordered the arrests of Gülener, Coşkun, and Acar.
Ahmet Demir, the general manager of Gazelle Hotel, another property owned by Halit Ergül—the owner of the burned Grand Kartal Hotel—was also arrested.
Demir was detained and referred to the judgeship following the completion of his questioning at the prosecutor’s office. He was subsequently arrested, raising the total number of arrests in the investigation to 19.
Gazelle Hotel announced that the hotel was temporarily closed.
Earlier in the investigation, 15 people, including Grand Kartal Hotel owner Halit Ergül, company general manager Emir Aras, and hotel manager Zeki Yılmaz, were arrested. Six others were released under judicial control.
The tragedy has sparked calls for accountability and reform, and independent experts have said the Grand Kartal Hotel, at the Kartalkaya ski resort in western Turkey, lacked basic fire safety measures.
President Tayyip Erdoğan said on Jan. 25 that Turkey's judiciary was working to punish all those responsible for the incident. The hotel's management has pledged full cooperation.
The blaze started on the restaurant floor of the 12-storey building, which had 238 registered guests, at around 3:30 a.m. on Jan. 21. It forced panicked hotel guests to jump from windows in the middle of the night.
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