Turkey hotel fire: questions mount over safety measures at resort after 76 die
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Survivors say they did not hear any alarms when fire broke out, as harrowing accounts emerge of attempts to escape. Turkish authorities are facing mounting questions over safety measures at a hotel in a popular ski resort that was ravaged by a fire, leaving 76 people dead and injuring more than 50 others.
![[Turkish flag lowered to half-mast in Ankara]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/32435d8fdafb3557bb746cae5519fd9ae69af779/0_550_8256_4954/master/8256.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Survivors reported that they did not hear smoke or fire alarms when the blaze began in the early hours of Tuesday morning in the Bolu mountains resort of Kartalkaya. Harrowing accounts have emerged of people navigating smoke-filled corridors in complete darkness and jumping out of windows.
“No fire alarm went off … and there was no fire escape,” Atakan Yelkovan, one of the guests, told the IHA news agency. Speaking to Turkish media outlets, many survivors told the same story. Forensic medicine units continued to identify victims on Wednesday as flags flew at half-mast across the country on a national day of mourning.
“We are in deep pain,” Turkey’s interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, told reporters after inspecting the site at the Grand Kartal hotel in Kartalkaya, about 190 miles (300km) east of Istanbul. “But you should know that whoever is responsible for causing this pain will not escape justice.”.
Authorities said 11 people had been detained as part of the investigation, including a deputy mayor of Bolu province and the owner and manager of the hotel. The hotel pledged full cooperation with the investigation in a statement on Wednesday. “We are cooperating with authorities to shed light on all aspects of this incident,” it said. “We are deeply saddened by the losses and want you to know that we share this pain with all our hearts.”.
