At least 10 people died and 32 others were injured in a fire at a hotel at a ski resort in northwestern on Tuesday morning.
The blaze broke out in the restaurant of the 12-story Grand Kartal hotel in the mountain-top resort of Kartalkaya at 3:27 a.m. local time (0027 GMT), according to Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya.
At least two of the victims are reported to have died after jumping from the building in panic, while local media also described guests trying to climb down from their rooms using bedsheets and blankets.
Television footage showed the roof and top floors of the hotel on fire, sending plumes of smoke into the sky with a snowcapped mountain in the background.
The hotel was reported to be between 80-90% full due to school holidays, with over 230 guests checked in.
Necmi Kepcetutan, a ski instructor at the hotel, told private broadcaster NTV he had helped around 20 people to evacuate the building, but that it was difficult to locate fire escapes due to the smoke.
“I cannot reach some of my students,” he said. “I hope they are OK.”
Reporters for NTV suggested that the design of the 161-room hotel, with wooden chalet-style cladding, may have accelerated the spread of the fire.
Officials said 30 fire trucks and 28 ambulances were dispatched to the site, but the hotel’s location backed onto a cliff was hampering firefighters’ efforts to tackle the flames.
Other nearby hotels were evacuated as a precaution, with guests relocated in other accommodation in the area.
Kartalkaya is a popular ski resort in the Koroglu mountains, some 300 kilometers (185 miles) east of and 170 kilometers (100 miles) northwest of the capital, .
Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc has appointed six prosecutors to lead an investigation into the fire, the exact cause of which remains unclear.
The health, interior and culture ministers were expected to visit later on Tuesday.
mf/nm (AFP, AP, dpa)
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