Dozens of people were killed after a fire ripped through a ski resort hotel in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday, forcing desperate holidaymakers to leap from windows to escape from the flames and smoke.
At least 66 people were killed and 51 injured following the early morning blaze at a hotel in the Kartalkaya resort in Bolu province, 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 cliff, complicating efforts to extinguish the flames. Emergency crews arrived at the scene at 4:15 a.m. local time – almost an hour after the fire broke out – at 3:27 a.m. local time, said Yerlikaya. Turkey’s government launched an investigation into the fire, and at least four people have been detained, according to Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc. (CNN)
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