Fire tears through Turkey ski resort hotel, killing at least 66 people and injuring dozens more

Istanbul, Turkey — A fire engulfed a hotel at a ski resort in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday, killing at least 66 people and injuring 32 others, the interior minister said. Witnesses said desperate guests had tried to escape using ropes, and video showed bedsheets hanging from the windows. Media reports suggested some people had died after trying to jump to safety.

“Our pain is great,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told reporters at the Kartalkaya resort, about 100 miles northwest of the capital Ankara. “Sixty-six citizens lost their lives and 51 others wounded.”  

Other cabinet members also came to the scene of the disaster and said the blaze had been contained. The fire broke out at 3:27 am (7:27 p.m. Monday Eastern ) in the 12-story Grand Kartal hotel, which has wooden cladding, Yerlikaya said earlier on X.

Local media reported at least 230 people were staying at the hotel, a peak time during a two-week school holiday.  

Private NTV broadcaster said the  dead included three people who had jumped from the hotel’s windows.

The fire is believed to have started in the restaurant and spread quickly, though it was not immediately clear what caused it.

Part of the hotel backs onto a cliff, which made it harder for firefighters to tackle the blaze.

Video aired on Turkish television showed huge plumes of smoke rising into the sky with a snowcapped mountain behind the hotel.

“I heard screams around midnight, (hotel) residents were shouting for help,” Baris Salgur, who works at a nearby hotel, told NTV television. “They asked for a blanket, saying they will jump… we did what we could, we brought rope, pillows, we brought a sofa. Some people threw themselves once the flames approached them.” 

Officials said they feared the number of dead could still rise.

Video showed the wrecked lobby of the hotel with shards of glass on the floor, the reception desk and the wooden furniture inside charred black.

Authorities warned the building could collapse.

A survivor who managed to escape the flames told local media that no alarms rang at the hotel when the fire started, complaining of a lack of any safety measures such as fire stairs or smoke detectors.

“I pray to God for mercy upon our citizens who lost their lives in the fire,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on X.

He said he wished a speedy recovery to the injured affected by “this tragic accident”, adding that an investigation had been launched.

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

Those evacuated were rehoused in nearby hotels.