A fire at a ski hotel in Turkey has killed 66 people like an apocalypse, witnesses say.
A fire at a ski hotel in Turkey’s Bolu Mountains has killed 66 people and injured 51, prompting panicked guests to jump out of windows in the middle of the night.
“It was like an apocalypse. The fire consumed the hotel in just half an hour,” said Mevlut Ozer of the Kartalkaya ski resort in the Koroglu mountains of Bolu province, 300 kilometers east of Istanbul.
The fire started at 3:30 am local time on the restaurant floor of the 12th floor Grand Kartal Hotel, officials said.
Several fire engines and ambulances surrounded the wood-burning building, tying white bed sheets from first-floor windows as people tried to flee.
“Everybody started jumping in panic. A friend of mine jumped from the 11th floor – may God have mercy on him,” said witness Omer Sakrak, a worker at a neighboring hotel.
Video released by Reuters shows the massive emergency response after a fire at a hotel in a Turkish ski area left dozens dead and dozens injured.
“They tried to climb down using bed sheets. As soon as a friend of mine tried, the bed sheets were torn … and unfortunately he fell on his head,” he told Reuters. “A father was shouting about his one-year-old son, ‘I’m going to throw my son away or burn him.'”
Governor Abdulaziz Aydin earlier told the state-run Anadolu Agency that at least two of the dead died when they jumped from the building in panic. Sozku newspaper columnist Nedim Turkmen, his wife and two children were among the dead, the newspaper announced.
Witnesses said they heard no alarm.
Hotel guests fled through smoke-filled corridors and told television broadcasters that they had not heard any alarms.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said there were 238 guests at the hotel, which was located at the base of several ski slopes and was on fire by late afternoon.
“We are in great pain,” Yerlikaya told reporters after visiting the site.
“Because the back of the hotel is on a slope, firefighting efforts can only be done on the front and side facades,” the director said, adding that crews began battling the mountain fire 45 minutes after the first call.
Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu said at least one of the injured was in critical condition, while 17 others were treated and released.
Four people were arrested during the investigation.
An investigation is underway into the blaze, which coincided with the school holidays when many families from Istanbul and the Ankara area headed to the Bolu Mountains to ski.
The authorities arrested four people, including the owner of the hotel, Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunk said in a statement to X newspaper.
Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy told reporters that the hotel was opened in 2015. Inspections were conducted in 2021 and 2024 and “no adverse fire incidents” were reported by the fire department.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a national day of mourning on Wednesday. All flags at government buildings and Turkish diplomatic missions abroad will be lowered to half-staff, he said.
“All necessary steps will be taken to shed light on all aspects of the tragedy and hold those responsible accountable,” Erdogan said in an earlier speech in Ankara.