ANKARA: Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc announced on Wednesday that 11 persons have been detained in Turkey as part of an inquiry into a fire at a ski resort in the Bolu mountains that claimed 79 lives and injured numerous more.
According to Tunc on X, those in custody included the hotel’s owner and manager, the head of the municipality’s fire department, and a deputy mayor of the northwest Bolu province.
Wednesday saw a number of funerals for the people who perished in Tuesday’s fire, many of them were youngsters. In the middle of the night, terrified hotel guests were forced to jump from windows due to the fire.
At a funeral for eight fatalities from the same family in Bolu, western Turkey, President Tayyip Erdogan declared, “Our hearts and souls are hurting.” “I ask for patience for our country and the entire family.”
According to the authorities, forensic DNA testing was being done to identify the other victims, while the bodies of 45 victims were turned over to their families.
The interior minister had stated on Tuesday that 76 people had perished in the fire, but after forensic DNA testing on Wednesday night, the Bolu prosecutor’s office revised the dead toll to 79. There were 238 registered guests at the 12-story Grand Kartal Hotel in the Kartalkaya ski resort when the fire broke out. Around 3:30 am, a fire broke out on the restaurant floor, and it was engulfed by flames.
Guests reported having to make their way through smoke-filled hallways in total darkness, while some survivors claimed they did not hear any fire alarms during the incident. The hotel expressed its “deep sadness by the losses” and promised to cooperate fully with the investigation.
The coffins of a family were arranged in a line at the Ahmet Hamdi Akseki mosque in the center of Ankara during one burial.
The parents, a teacher and a doctor, attended the burial after taking their three kids skiing in Kartalkaya during the school break. Local media said that children made up at least 20 of the fire victims.
Following the tragedy, which happened during the busiest time of year for winter tourism, when many families from Istanbul and Ankara traveled to the Bolu mountains to ski, Erdogan proclaimed a day of national mourning.
Anger that simmers As accusations mounted that 79 people had died as a result of incompetence, anger was rising in Turkiye. As the country observed a day of grief, distraught families started burying their loved ones while concerns about fire safety protocols at the 12-story Grand Kartal Hotel, which is situated atop a mountain in the Kartalkaya resort, grew.
Allegations of incompetence were widely circulated on front pages, including those of pro-government dailies, which blamed the startling death toll on negligence. More than 30 of the 51 injured were remained in the hospital, including one in critical care, on a chilly, misty morning with the flags flying at half mast.
Ozgur Ozel, the leader of the main opposition CHP party, declared outside the hotel’s blackened facade as rescuers combed through the rubble, “There is no excuse for such a high number of deaths in 2025.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was spotted wiping away emotions with his head lowered during a funeral for eight members of the same family who perished in the fire in the nearby town of Bolu.
“Very upsetting.”
Cevdet Can, who owns a neighboring ski school, stated, “There were flames everywhere and we could hear screams when I got to the hotel.” Can claimed that it was the sight of children confined “that upset me most” after witnessing someone “jump out of the window” to her death.
He was unable to save his students, the youngest of whom was six, according to another ski instructor who managed to flee the hotel unscathed. Necmi Kepcetutan, 58, said that another coworker had leaped to her death, stating, “I lost five of my students who were staying on the sixth and seventh floors.”
Around 3:30 am, the fire started, causing panic among the visitors, several of whom attempted to scale the windows using bedsheets as ropes. According to media sources, some plunged to their deaths.
Many witnesses reported the same tale when they spoke to Turkish media outlets: there were no fire doors, no alarms alerting them to the fire, and no safe departure routes from the hotel.