Witnesses describe panic as fire tore through ski resort in Turkey

Witnesses have described feeling horrified and helpless as people screamed for help and jumped out of windows to escape a deadly fire that tore through a 12-storey hotel at a ski resort in northwestern Turkey.

The fire at the Grand Kartal Hotel, in Kartalya, on Tuesday killed at least 76 people with 51 injured. It came near the start of a two-week winter break for schools when hotels in the Bolu region are filled to capacity.

Halime Cetin, an employee at an adjacent hotel, said: “There was no one around. They were calling for firefighters. They were breaking the windows. Some could no longer stand the smoke and flames, and they jumped.”

Her colleague, Esra Karakisa said: “It was awful. We were terrified. People were screaming. The cries of children especially affected us. We wanted to help but there was nothing we could do. I couldn’t look it was so terrifying.”

Turkish authorities have assigned six prosecutors to investigate the cause of the fire, which appeared to have started at the restaurant section on the fourth floor of of the wooden-clad hotel and spread quickly through to the upper floors.

At least nine people have been detained for questioning, including the hotel owner.

Flags at government buildings and Turkish diplomatic missions overseas were lowered to half-staff as the nation observed a day of mourning on Wednesday for the victims.

Only 45 of the 76 bodies have been identified so far, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said late on Tuesday. One of the injured was in serious condition, while 29 others were treated and released, according to the health ministry said.

Officials and witnesses said the rescue efforts were hampered by the fact that part of the 161-room hotel is on the side of a cliff.

According to Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, the hotel underwent inspections in 2021 and 2024, and no issues were reported by the fire department.

Funeral prayers

Karakisa said she eventually brought clothes and water for the survivors while others rushed to bring mattresses for people to jump onto or propped up ladders against the wall to help them escape.

Among those who placed mattresses was Baris Salgur, a cleaner at a nearby hotel.

“They were saying, ‘Please help, we’re burning!’ They were saying: ‘Call the fire department.’ We were trying to calm them down, but there was nothing we could do, we couldn’t get in either,” Salgur, 19, said. “It was very high, we couldn’t extend a rope or anything of course. We were trying to do the best we could.”

“People jumped from a great height, I couldn’t look. There were two women at the top floor. The flames had literally entered the room. They couldn’t stand it and jumped,” he said.

Salgur described seeing a man on the top floors holding a baby and shouting for a mattress he could throw his baby on.

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“We told him to be a little calmer. He waited, then the fire department came and took them (out), but unfortunately the baby had died from smoke inhalation,” he said.

On Wednesday, Turkey began conducting funeral prayers for the deceased.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to Bolu from the capital Ankara to attend the funeral of eight members of the Gultekin family, who were related to an official of his ruling party.

“Our hearts are broken,” Erdogan said during the funeral of Zehra Sena Gultekin, her husband, their four children and another relative. “May God grant us patience.”

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