Some guests died after jumping out of windows to escape the fire. The hotel was close to capacity with guests taking advantage of the school holidays.
At least 66 people have died and more than 50 others were injured in a fire at a hotel at a ski resort in northwestern Turkey.
The blaze broke out in the restaurant of the 12-story Grand Kartal hotel in the mountain-top resort of Kartalkaya at 3:27 a.m. local time (0027 GMT) on Tuesday.
“Our pain is great,” interior minister Ali Yerlikaya told reporters at the scene.
Panicked guests climbed out windows
Some of the victims are reported to have died after jumping from the building in panic, while local media also described guests trying to climb down from their rooms using bedsheets and blankets.
Television footage showed the roof and top floors of the hotel on fire, sending plumes of smoke into the sky with a snowcapped mountain in the background.
The hotel was reported to be between 80-90% full due to school holidays, with over 230 guests checked in.
Necmi Kepcetutan, a ski instructor at the hotel, told private broadcaster NTV he had helped around 20 people to evacuate the building, but that it was difficult to locate fire escapes due to the smoke.
“I cannot reach some of my students,” he said. “I hope they are OK.”
Turkish authorities launch investigation
Reporters for NTV suggested that the design of the 161-room hotel, with wooden chalet-style cladding, may have accelerated the spread of the fire.
Officials said 30 fire trucks and 28 ambulances were dispatched to the site, but the hotel’s location backed onto a cliff was hampering firefighters’ efforts to tackle the flames.
Other nearby hotels were evacuated as a precaution, with guests relocated in other accommodation in the area.
Kartalkaya is a popular ski resort in the Koroglu mountains, some 300 kilometers (185 miles) east of Istanbul and 170 kilometers (100 miles) northwest of the capital, Ankara.
Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc has appointed six prosecutors to lead an investigation into the fire, the exact cause of which remains unclear.
The health, interior and culture ministers were expected to visit later on Tuesday.
Fire alarms did not go off, says witness
Witnesses said the hotel’s fire detection system failed to activate.
“My wife smelled the burning. The alarm did not go off,” said Atakan Yelkovan, a guest staying on the third floor, speaking to the IHA news agency.
“We tried to go upstairs but couldn’t, there were flames. We went downstairs and came outside,” he said, adding that it took about an hour for the fire brigade to arrive.
“People on the upper floors were screaming,” he said. “They hung down sheets … some tried to jump.”
