Ankara: At least 66 people were killed and 51 injured after a fire ripped through a ski resort hotel in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday,
The fire forced desperate holidaymakers to leap from windows to escape from the flames and smoke.
The disastrous fire engulfed the hotel in the Kartalkaya resort in Bolu province in early morning , according to Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya.
“We are in deep pain. We have unfortunately lost 66 lives in the fire that broke out at this hotel,” Yerlikaya told reporters on Tuesday.
Some desperate holiday goers tried to jump out of windows in order to escape, officials said, as flames licked the top floors of the facility.
Footage of the aftermath showed wreaths of gray smoke swirling around the charred building.
The 12-story hotel was built onto a rock face, complicating efforts to extinguish the flames.
There were around 234 guests staying at the hotel, Governor Abdulaziz Aydin told the state-run Anadolu Agency. Two of the victims died after jumping out of the building “in a panic,” Aydin said.
At least 30 fire trucks and 28 ambulances were sent to the site, Aydin’s office said.
According to Yerlikaya, authorities mobilized 267 emergency personnel to respond to the blaze.
Authorities evacuated other hotels at the resort as a precautionary measure, and guests were housed in hotels around Bolu.
A number of videos, some shared on social media and others broadcast by Turkish TV stations, showed flames coming out of the top floors of the hotel. Some people were seen using tied bed sheets to try to escape the blaze.
