Anger in Turkey as Ski Hotel Fire Death Toll Rises to 79
21st January 2025 | James Cove, Istanbul, Turkey.
Last modified on January 25th, 2025
The blaze started in a hotel restaurant in the middle of the night. A national day of mourning has taken place. PlanetSKI reports from Turkey. UPDATED
Flags are at half-mast across the nation as questions are asked as to how the blaze was allowed to develop, what precautions were in place and how the emergency services reacted.
Some survivors have said they did not hear an alarm and experts have said they would not have expected such a high death toll in a hotel where fire protection systems were working properly.
An investigation is now under way into the blaze with nine people in custody over the fire including the hotel’s owner.
Six prosecutors and five forensic experts have been assigned to the investigation.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who visited the area on Wednesday, said those responsible for negligence leading to the fire “will be held accountable”.
The Interior Minister, Ali Yerlikaya, said “The investigation will uncover all lapses, and justice will prevail for those who caused this unimaginable loss.”
Some funerals have already taken place as more bodies are recovered and identified.
Istanbul, Turkey. Image © PlanetSKI
The blaze at the 12-storey Grand Kartal Hotel in the Kartalkaya ski resort near Bolu started at around 3.30 on Tuesday morning.
More than 234 people were staying at the hotel during the busy school holiday period.
I visited the resort last winter and the Grand Kartal Hotel is in the middle of the picture with the large sloping roof.
Kartalkaya, Turkey. Image © PlanetSKI
Some of the dead and injured came from Istanbul including Vedia Nil Apak, a 10-year-old swimmer with Fenerbahce Sports Club in the city and her mother Ferda.
It is the nearest good-sized ski resort to Istanbul.
Kartalkaya is in the Köroğlu mountains just off the main road between Istanbul and the Turkish capital, Ankara and around 50km from Bolu.
Skiing in Turkey. Image © PlanetSKI
The local governor’s office said 30 fire trucks and 28 ambulances were sent to the scene.
It is thought the wooden facade of the hotel may have helped the flames spread.
Kartalkaya, Turkey. Image © PlanetSKI
The tragedy is leading the news here in Istanbul and across the country, with people wanting to know how such an accident could happen.
Istanbul, Turkey. Image © PlanetSKI
The handful of people I have spoken to in the city are upset and angry at the huge loss of life.
Kartalkaya, Turkey. Image c/o PlanetSKI
The ski area is expected to reopen at a future date.
Around 500,000 Turks ski out of a population of over 84m, but it is growing.
30 years ago it was only for the very-rich, but now it is opening up.
The fire will of course have terrible short term consequences for the resort, but the resort is expected to rebuild, rejuvenate and remember.
Kartalkaya lies in the Koroglu mountains in the northern Black Sea region of Bolu province.
It is 180 miles from Istanbul & 115 miles for the capital, Ankara, and describes itself as ‘one of Turkey’s most popular ski tourism centres in the northwestern region’.
It claims 70kms of slopes and 25 runs, with 2,000 beds.
The 45km road connecting Kartalkaya with the main town of Boya down in the valley was built in 1978 and was the catalyst for the growth of the ski resort.
See here for my reports from Kartalkaya and Istanbul from last January.
Skiing in Kartalkaya, Turkey. Image © PlanetSKI
Skiing in Kartalkaya, Turkey. Image © PlanetSKI
Skiing in Kartalkaya,Turkey. Image © PlanetSKI
For the moment all thoughts are on the present and what happened.
According to a report on BBC News, the governor of Bolu, Abdulaziz Aydin, said that distance between the hotel, in Kartalkaya, and the centre of Bolu, combined with freezing weather, meant it took more than an hour for fire engines to arrive.
The road is a narrow one – single track in places.
Road from Bolu to Kartalkaya, Turkey. Image © PlanetSKI
Road from Bolu to Kartalkaya, Turkey. Image © PlanetSKI
Some guests are reported to have jumped from windows in an attempt to escape the flames.
Others tied bed sheets together.
One told Ekol TV that he and his family did not hear any fire alarms but woke up to the fire.
They eventually managed to jump from one of the lower floors.
Rescue efforts continued through the morning after the blaze with crews unable to reach some parts of the hotel by mid-morning.
Other hotels at the resort were evacuated as a precaution.
The hotel had two fire escapes and one hotel worker said they had managed to rescue 30-35 people.
The hotel was last inspected in 2024 and the tourism minister said there had been no concerns regarding the hotel’s fire safety.
The Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects said that, according to regulations, an automatic fire extinguisher system is needed.
“In the photos on the hotel’s website, it is seen that the automatic sprinkler system, which was supposed to be installed in 2008, was not installed,” the union said in a statement.
It added that it was unclear if other regulations had been complied with, but based on the statements of survivors, “it is understood that the detection and warning systems did not work and the escape routes could not be determined”.
The people here in Turkey are looking for answers with the newspapers dominated by the tragedy.
Istanbul, Turkey. Image © PlanetSKI
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