At least 10 people dead after fire at ski resort hotel in Turkey
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Reports of people jumping and climbing from windows after fire broke out at 12-storey Grand Kartal hotel. A fire at a hotel at a ski resort in north-western Turkey on Tuesday killed at least at least 10 people and left 32 others in hospital, officials have said.
![[Fire engines and firefighters outside the hotel in daylight, which has blackened areas and smoke still coming out of some of the windows]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0c92062d33bac0ca22d14aa83903db17cd77e1f1/0_173_2048_1229/master/2048.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The fire broke out at around 3:30am in the restaurant of the 12-storey Grand Kartal hotel in the resort of Kartalkaya in Bolu province, officials and reports said. The cause of the fire was under investigation. Two of the victims had died after jumping from the building in a panic, the Bolu governor, Abdulaziz Aydin, told the state-run Anadolu Agency. NTV television said some people had tried to climb down from their rooms using sheets and blankets.
There were 234 guests staying at the hotel, Aydin said. Necmi Kepcetutan, a ski instructor at the hotel, said he had been asleep when the fire erupted, and had rushed out of the building. He told NTV television that he had helped about 20 guests out of the hotel.
He said the hotel was engulfed in smoke, making it difficult for guests to locate the fire escape. “I cannot reach some of my students. I hope they are OK,” he told the station. Television images showed the roof and top floors of the hotel on fire.
The government has appointed six prosecutors to lead an investigation into the fire. NTV television suggested that the wooden cladding on the exterior of the hotel, in a chalet-style design, may have accelerated the spread of the fire. The 161-room hotel is on the side of a cliff, hampering efforts to combat the flames, the station also reported.
