66 killed as fire breaks out at ski resort hotel in northwestern Turkey
The resort is a popular destination for holiday-makers in the winter, especially during school holidays, which run from January until the first week of February.
Emergency services respond to a fire that broke out at a hotel at the Bolu Kartalkaya Ski Center on January 21 in Bolu, Turkey. (Photo credit: Mehmet Emin Gurbuz/Anadolu/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) — At least 66 people were killed and 51 injured as a fire ripped through a ski resort hotel in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday, according to the country’s interior ministry.
The early morning blaze erupted around 3:27 a.m. local time at a hotel in the Kartalkaya resort in Bolu province, said Ali Yerlikaya.
“We are in deep pain. We have unfortunately lost 66 lives in the fire that broke out at this hotel,” Yerlikaya told reporters on Tuesday.
Some desperate holiday goers tried to jump out of windows in order to escape, officials said, as flames licked the top floors of the facility. Footage of the aftermath showed wreaths of gray smoke swirling around the charred building.
The resort is a popular destination for holiday-makers in the winter, especially during school holidays, which run from January until the first week of February. The timing of the blaze fell in the school holidays, Reuters reported, when people from Istanbul and Ankara travel to the Bolu mountains to ski.
There were around 234 guests staying at the hotel, Governor Abdulaziz Aydin told the state-run Anadolu Agency.
Two of the victims died after jumping out of the building “in a panic,” Aydin said.
According to Yerlikaya, authorities mobilized 267 emergency personnel to respond to the blaze.
A number of videos, some shared on social media and others broadcast by Turkish TV stations, showed flames coming out of the top floors of the hotel. Some people were seen using tied bed sheets to try to escape the blaze.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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