10 people died in a fire at Bolu Hotel, a Turkish ski resort

A fire at a hotel in Turkey’s Bolu ski resort has killed 10 people and injured 32, Interior Minister Ali Yerqaya said.

At least two of the victims jumped to their deaths from the hotel window, according to Turkish reports.

The fire broke out at the 12-story Grand Cartel Hotel at 03:27 (00:27 GMT) during the busy holiday season with 234 people staying there, it added.

An image circulating in Turkey shows people trying to escape a burning building with linen hanging from windows.

According to the manager of Bolu, Abdulaziz Aydin, initial reports indicate that the fire started in the restaurant room on the fourth floor of the hotel and spread to the top floor.

The hotel was investigating whether guests were trapped in their rooms as the fire spread.

The governor told reporters that the distance between the hotel, Kartalkaya and Bolu, combined with the cold weather, took more than an hour for fire engines to arrive.

Rescue efforts continued into the morning and the Interior Minister said emergency services had deployed 267 people to respond to the fire.

At dawn, the local mayor said they were still trying to access a part of the hotel.

The Bolu Mountains are popular with skiers from Istanbul and the capital, Ankara, and the hotel was busy at the start of the two-week school holidays.

The northwestern city is 170 km (105 mi) from Ankara.

Although the fire was contained to one hotel, a neighboring hotel was evacuated as a precaution, the governor told Turkish media.

Skiing instructor Nekmi Kepsetutan told Turkish TV that he was able to escape because he knew the hotel, but guests who did not know him were not so lucky.

“People were yelling at the windows, ‘Save us,’ because there was heavy smoke inside. We pulled out 20-25 people,” he told NTV.

The circumstances that led to the fire are still unclear.

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunk has been assigned as a prosecutor to investigate the fire.