Istanbul, Turkey – A fire engulfed a hotel at a ski resort in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday, killing 10 people and injuring 32 others, the interior minister said. Witnesses said desperate guests had tried to escape using ropes, and video showed sheets hanging from windows. Media reports suggested that some people had died after trying to jump to safety.
Several ministers arrived at the scene in the Kartalkaya resort, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of the capital Ankara, and officials said the fire had now been brought under control.
The fire broke out at 3:27 a.m. (7:27 p.m. Monday Eastern) in the 12-story Grand Kartal hotel, which has wooden cladding, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X.
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Local media reported that at least 230 people were staying at the hotel, a peak period during a two-week school holiday.
The private NTV broadcaster said the dead included three people who jumped from the hotel windows.
The fire is said to have started in the restaurant and spread quickly, although it was not immediately clear what the cause was.
Part of the hotel borders a cliff, making it more difficult for firefighters to fight the fire.
Video broadcast on Turkish television showed huge plumes of smoke rising into the sky with a snow-capped mountain behind the hotel.
“I heard screaming around midnight, (hotel) residents screaming for help,” Baris Salgur, who works at a nearby hotel, told NTV television. “They asked for a blanket and said they were going to jump… we did what we could, we brought rope and pillows, we brought a couch. Some people threw themselves up as soon as the flames approached them.”
Officials said they feared the number of deaths could rise.
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Video showed the hotel’s destroyed lobby with shards of glass on the floor, the reception desk and wooden furniture inside charred black.
Authorities warned that the building could collapse.
A survivor who managed to escape the flames told local media that no alarms went off at the hotel when the fire broke out, and complained about the lack of safety measures such as fire escapes or smoke detectors.
“I pray to God for mercy for our citizens who lost their lives in the fire,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on X.
He said he wished a speedy recovery for the injured affected by “this tragic accident”, adding that an investigation had been launched.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said six prosecutors have been assigned to investigate the fire.
The evacuees were housed in nearby hotels.