Fire at Turkish ski resort kills 76 people, forces guests to jump from windows

A fire at a ski resort hotel in Turkey's Bolu Mountains has resulted in the deaths of at least 76 people, with many panicked guests forced to jump from windows in the middle of the night to escape. According to Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu, the fire at the Kartalkaya ski resort in northwestern Turkey also left approximately 51 people injured.

According to authorities on Tuesday, the fire broke out at around 3:30 a.m. local time, with the point of origin being the restaurant floor of the 11-story Grand Kartal Hotel. "It was like the end of the world," said a witness, Mevlut Ozer. "The flames engulfed the entire hotel in half an hour."

Turkish authorities have detained four people, including the hotel owner. "In the investigation led by six prosecutors, four people, including the hotel owner, have been detained," Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said on X. Several fire trucks surrounded the charred building, with some white bedsheets tied together and hanging from upper-story windows, marking where guests attempted to escape.

A hotel guest, Baris Sargul, told Turkish broadcaster NTV that people jumped from windows to escape, including two women from the top floor who urged people on the ground to prepare pillows. "They immediately jumped when the fire got closer," he said. Another guest told Turkish media company Ekol TV that he and his family were awakened by the fire but did not hear an alarm, and then entered a smoke-filled hallway, eventually jumping from a lower-story window onto the snow below.

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya stated that the hotel, located at the bottom of several ski slopes, had 238 guests staying there. "I want to share this indescribable pain," Mr. Yerlikaya said, expressing his condolences. He also said, "The fire has now been extinguished, and cooling efforts are underway. Since the back of the hotel is on a slope, firefighting could only be carried out from the front and sides." He added that firefighters began tackling the blaze about 45 minutes after receiving the first call.

At this time, no Australians are believed to be affected. An investigation into the fire is ongoing, which occurred during school holidays when many families from nearby Istanbul and Ankara travel to the Bolu Mountains to ski. It was reported that firefighters only began to extinguish the fire after approximately 45 minutes.