Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the proclamation of a national day of mourning across Turkey following the dead of 76 people in an early morning fire at a hotel in the popular ski resort of Kartalkaya in the mountains of Bolu province, in which 51 others were injured.
‘A national day of mourning has been declared throughout the country for tomorrow. I convey my condolences for our deceased citizens, and may God have mercy on their souls,’ the Turkish president told reporters after attending a meeting of his cabinet of ministers in Ankara, Turkish media reported.
Erdoğan reported that 17 of the injured have now been discharged, while nine people have so far been arrested for their responsibility in the fire, including among them the owner of the hotel. ‘Words are not enough to describe the pain in our hearts,’ said the Turkish president, who stressed that all those responsible for this tragedy will be brought to justice, and called for unity and solidarity from all in the face of what has happened. ‘We expect respect from everyone, including politicians, the media and the authorities, respect for the pain of our citizens,’ he added.
The fire broke out in the early hours of the morning, while most of the hotel’s 234 guests were still asleep, on the 4th floor of the 12-storey hotel, which housed the restaurant; the flames spread rapidly, fanned by the wooden cladding covering the entire façade of the building, which was built right on the edge of a cliff, making it extremely difficult for firefighters to control the fire and rescue the victims.
Many of the victims were students on holiday
Images and videos posted on social media showed some guests trying to escape the fire by hanging out of windows with makeshift ropes made from tied sheets; others shouted for help from the rooms, pleading to save their babies or to help them get out, as they were trapped.
At least two of the dead died when they jumped out of the windows of the upper floors – precisely where many students were staying – to avoid being burnt to death. The interior ministry has announced that a team of experts will thoroughly investigate the causes of the fire, but a hotel employee said in a televised statement that the hotel lacked a fire escape and a proper evacuation plan.
The fire coincided with the winter school holiday period that started last week, so the hotel – like many in Turkey’s main tourist destinations – was almost full and many of the guests were young students or families with children.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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