Yesterday was marked by one of the deadliest hotel fires in Turkey's history. The tragedy coincided with the winter vacation of students, when many families go skiing in the popular Kartalkaya resort, BTA reports.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened that those responsible for negligence in the fire would be brought to justice and declared today a day of national mourning in the country and in diplomatic missions abroad. The flags of institutions in Turkey, as well as in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognized only by Ankara, were lowered to half-mast today.
Last night, the number of victims increased by another ten people. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said 76 people had died and 51 were injured.
The victims included Fenerbahçe SK swimming star Vedia Nil Opak and prominent journalist and commentator for the opposition newspaper "Sözcü" Nedim Türkmen. 14 people from one family also died in the fire.
Police have made new arrests. Four people were initially detained, including hotel owners Halil Ergül and Emine Ergül, the daughter and son-in-law of businessman Mazhar Murtezaoğlu, who died in 2019. Five more people were arrested later last night, bringing the total number of people arrested to nine.
At least 76 people died on Tuesday night and at least 51 more were injured, after a fire engulfed a hotel at a popular ski resort in Turkey. Desperate guests tried to escape through windows using ropes and bedsheets, and authorities say some died after trying to jump to safety."I… pic.twitter.com/LgTqyw0INr
— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 22, 2025
The tragedy that unfolded shook the public in the country and the world. Dozens of countries, including Bulgaria, expressed condolences to Turkey.
“I wholeheartedly support the brave rescue teams who are working tirelessly to bring the flames under control. "We stand with Turkey at this painful moment," EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaya Kallas said on her social media account.
The Turkish Football Federation announced that matches over the weekend would observe a minute of silence for the victims.
The media regulator has banned publications about the fire, broadcast reports or interviews with the victims or their loved ones.
Turkish media published heartbreaking stories of people trying to escape by hanging ropes made of sheets to escape through windows. A father shouted to people outside to spread a blanket so he could throw his baby over. Panicked guests jumped from the building's windows in the middle of the night. The teams were removing charred bodies, and there was no room left in the morgues, Turkish media reported before the measure was imposed.
An investigation into the causes of the tragedy is underway, assigned to five republican prosecutors and a team of investigators, announced Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç.
There is no official information about how the tragedy occurred. According to an unofficial version, the fire started in the kitchen, where snacks were being prepared for the guests at the time.
Media outlets critical of the government, such as Halk TV and the "Sözcü" newspaper accused the authorities of hiding the true number of victims from the public in the first hours.
Accusations were also made that there was not a single fire engine in Kartalkaya, even though the area was declared an industrial zone.
According to the allegations, the hotel's fire extinguishing system was malfunctioning, which led to the high number of victims. Some of the survivors said that they did not hear the fire alarm.
In an indirect dispute over who bears greater responsibility, the Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy and the mayor of the Bolu district, where the hotel is located, Tanju Özcan, entered into an indirect dispute over who bears greater responsibility. In response to the mayor's accusations of shortcomings in the hotel's fire safety, the minister stated that a certificate of fitness had been issued before last year. The minister accused the mayor of not cooperating in quickly sending fire engines and ambulances from Bolu. According to the minister, the accusations in some media that the hotel did not have an external staircase are also not true - on the contrary, there were two external staircases, Ersoy explained.
Calls were made for the resignations of both of them.
"We are in deep pain."
— ABC News (@ABC) January 21, 2025
Officials in Turkey said a predawn fire at a ski resort hotel killed at least 76 people Tuesday, with dozens more injured.
Footage of the aftermath shows bedsheets hanging from a window used by people trying to flee the flames. https://t.co/EYj94D7ZwR pic.twitter.com/0IWYL8XWDO
Kartalkaya is the oldest and most popular mountain resort in the region, which operates year-round and as a ski center in winter. It is about 280 km from Istanbul and 190 km from Ankara.
The largest hotel in the resort is the four-star Grand Hotel Kartal, where the tragedy took place. The hotel opened in 2007. The 12-story building is built entirely of wood in an Alpine style and was the emblem of the resort.
After nearly 10 hours of fighting, the fire was brought under control, but left behind 76 victims, dozens of blackened families and many question marks, the main one of which is whether the real culprits of the tragedy will receive the punishment they deserve.