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.
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. Initially, four people were detained, including the hotel owners Halil Ergül and Emine Ergül - the daughter and son-in-law of businessman Mazhar Murtezaoğlu, who died in 2019. Later last night, five more people were detained, bringing the total number of detainees to nine.
The tragedy that unfolded has shaken the public in the country and the world. Dozens of countries, including Bulgaria, expressed their 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“, said the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaya Kallas on her social media account.
The Turkish Football Federation announced that a minute of silence would be observed at matches this weekend for the victims.
The media regulator has banned publications related to the fire, broadcast reports or interviews with the victims or their loved ones.
Turkish media published heartbreaking stories of people trying to save themselves 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. Panicked guests jumped out of the building's windows in the middle of the night. Crews were pulling out charred bodies, and morgues were full, 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, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç announced.
There is no official information about how the tragedy happened. 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.
There were also accusations 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.
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 bore greater responsibility. In response to the mayor's accusations of shortcomings in the hotel's fire safety, the minister stated that a certificate of suitability had been issued before last year. The minister, in turn, 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.
Kartalkaya is the oldest and most popular mountain resort in this region, which operates year-round, in winter as a ski center. It is located 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 being whether the real culprits of the tragedy will receive the punishment they deserve.