Turkish ski resort fire at hotel in Bolu leaves 10 dead

A fire at a hotel in the Turkish ski resort of Bolu has left 10 people dead and 32 others injured, according to Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya.

At least two of the victims died after jumping from the hotel’s windows, Turkish reports said.

The fire broke out at the 12-storey Grand Kartal Hotel at 03:27 local time (00:27 GMT) during a busy holiday period when 234 people were staying there, he added.

Footage circulating in Turkey showed linen hanging from windows which was used by those trying to escape the burning building.

Bolu governor Abdulaziz Aydin said initial reports suggested the fire had broken out in the restaurant section of the hotel’s fourth floor and spread to the floors above.

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

The governor told reporters the distance between the hotel, in Kartalkaya, and the centre of Bolu, paired with the freezing weather conditions, meant it took more than an hour for fire engines to arrive.

Rescue efforts continued through the morning, and the interior minister said emergency services had deployed 267 people to respond to the fire.

By mid-morning the local mayor said they were still trying to reach parts of the hotel.

The Bolu mountains are popular with skiers from Istanbul and the capital Ankara and the hotel was operating at high occupancy at the start of two-week school holidays.

The north-western town is about 170km (105 miles) from Ankara.

Although the fire was confined to one hotel, the governor told Turkish media that a neighbouring hotel was evacuated as a precaution.

Ski instructor Necmi Kepcetutan told Turkish TV he had managed to escape because he knew the hotel, while guests who did not know it as well as him were not as fortunate.

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

The circumstances that led to the fire are not yet clear.

Justice minister Yilmaz Tunc said prosecutors had been allocated to investigate the blaze.