Turkey ski resort fire: At least 10 killed and 32 injured in hotel blaze

Fire broke out overnight at the restaurant of a hotel in the resort of Kartalkaya in Bolu province

The hotel fire at the ski resort of Kartalkaya in Bolu province, in northwest Turkey. Photograph: AP
The hotel fire at the ski resort of Kartalkaya in Bolu province, in northwest Turkey. Photograph: AP

A fire at a ski resort hotel overnight killed at least 10 people and injured 32 others in northwestern Turkey, authorities said on Tuesday, as TV footage showed crews fighting flames and smoke that engulfed the 11-storey building.

The blaze began on the restaurant floor of the hotel at Bolu’s Kartalkaya ski resort at about 3.30am (12.30am Irish time), Bolu governor Abdulaziz Aydin told state broadcaster TRT.

He said there were 234 guests at the Grand Kartal Hotel, which has a broad wooden exterior.

The fire comes at the beginning of a nationwide two-week school holiday, a time when skiers from nearby Istanbul and Ankara usually head to the Bolu mountains.

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TV footage showed several fire engines surrounding the charred hotel at the base of the ski slopes, with white bed sheets tied together and dangling from one upper-floor window.

The death toll had risen to 10, with 32 injured, from an earlier lower count, minister for interior affairs Ali Yerlikaya said on X, adding more than 250 first responders attended to the incident.

Investigators were looking into what caused the blaze, authorities said. – Reuters