At least 10 people were killed and 32 others injured on Tuesday after a fire broke out at a hotel with more than 200 guests in a ski resort in western Turkey, authorities said.
The fire that broke out at the Grand Kartal Hotel in the town of Kartalkaya in Bolu province happened during the winter break from schools across the country, a time when families flock to ski resorts and other tourist destinations.
The fire started around 3:30 am local time, when most of the people inside were sleeping, according to the news. In an effort to evacuate, some residents put together sheets to make a rope that they used to descend to the ground floor, video footage showed.
The cause of the fire was not yet clear.
Television footage showed smoke billowing from the building built by the snow-carved mountains. Dozens of rescuers and fire trucks were dispatched from nearby towns.
“When I came out of my room I saw flames on the fourth floor, down in the restaurant,” Necmi Kepcetutan, a skiing instructor who also worked at the hotel, told the NTV network. “Then it started to get crowded in the hotel. We helped about a dozen or so people get out as we know the hotel very well.”
He went on to say that he could not reach other students because the smoke was thick. “People were crying for rescue,” he told the broadcaster.
Two people – a guest and a hotel worker – died after jumping from the building, the governor of Bolu Province, Abdulaziz Aydin, told the state-run Anadolu Agency.
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