Turkish authorities have arrested 11 people as part of the investigation into the fire that killed 79 people and injured dozens at a ski resort in the Bolu mountains in Turkey, Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunk said on Wednesday.
A deputy mayor of the northwestern province of Bolu, the head of the municipality's fire department, the owner and manager of the hotel are among those arrested, the minister told X.
He also stated that the government appointed 7 prosecutors to lead the investigation into the fire.
"We didn't hear an alarm"
Some survivors said they did not hear a fire alarm during the incident and guests said they had to navigate smoke-filled hallways in complete darkness. The hotel pledged full cooperation with the investigation and said it was “deeply sorry for the losses.”
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but Bolu Governor Abdulaziz Aydin said initial reports suggest it broke out in the restaurant section of the hotel's fourth floor and spread to the upper floors.
Aydin said the hotel's remote location and freezing conditions meant it took more than an hour for fire engines to arrive.
The hotel was last inspected in 2024 and the tourism minister said there were no concerns about the hotel's fire safety before Tuesday's disaster. However, the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) said that, according to regulations, an automatic fire extinguishing system was required and photos of the hotel showed that it had not been installed.
He added that it was not clear whether other regulations had been followed, but based on the survivors' statements, "it is understood that the detection and warning systems did not work and escape routes could not be identified."
Drone destruction
"Not one person resigned"
Opposition CHP MP Ahmet Bakirlioglu criticized the ministers for not taking responsibility and said: "After the disaster in which dozens of our citizens died, not a single official, not a single minister took responsibility. Not a single one resigned."
DEVA Party Vice President Idris Sahin and the Vice President, after inspections they carried out at the Grand Kartal Hotel, stated that the fire was caused by negligence.
"The scope of the negligence is quite large. We lost 79 lives here as a result of the lack of control, both generally and locally. Rest assured, if the necessary precautions had been taken here, we would not have had so many deaths."
At least 20 children among the victims
Several funerals were held on Wednesday for the victims of the fire. At least 20 of the victims were children, according to local media reports. The fire forced panicked hotel guests to jump out of windows in the middle of the night.
"Our hearts and souls ache," Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said at the funeral of eight victims from the same family in Bolu. "I pray for patience for the entire family and our nation."
The bodies of 45 victims have been handed over to their families and DNA tests are being conducted to identify the rest, the government announced.
The interior minister had announced on Tuesday that 76 people had been killed in the fire, but the Bolu prosecutor's office upgraded the death toll to 79 on Wednesday night after forensic DNA tests.
The fire broke out at the Grand Kartal Hotel in the Kartalkaya ski resort, a 12-story hotel with 238 registered guests. It was destroyed by flames after the fire started on the restaurant floor at around 3:27 a.m. Most of the hotel's guests were in their rooms at the time and the flames caught them asleep, which is believed to have increased the death toll.
The large number of victims was also contributed to by the fact that students in Turkey are currently on a two-week vacation after the end of the first semester at school, and for many families this is a period of winter trips.
Images released by the fire department showed the fire quickly engulfing the hotel and completely destroying it. The building's wooden walls contributed to the rapid spread of the fire. Authorities have warned of the risk of the building collapsing.
Source: protothema.gr