Death toll from Turkish ski resort fire rises to 78

The death toll from the devastating fire at Turkey's Kartalkaya ski resort in northwestern Bolu province has risen to 78, and 11 people have been detained in connection with the incident, Turkish justice minister Yilmaz Tunc said on Thursday.

Among the detainees are Bolu municipality's deputy mayor responsible for the fire department, the fire chief, and the owner and the manager of the hotel, Tunc said on social media platform X, adding that investigations are ongoing.

The fire, which broke out in the early hours of Tuesday, spread rapidly through the 12-story wooden hotel. Initial investigations suggest that the fire originated in the restaurant area on the fourth floor before engulfing the upper levels.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a national day of mourning on Wednesday. "Those who caused such a disaster in any way, those who have negligence and fault will be held accountable before the law," Erdogan said at a press conference after the cabinet meeting. He added that 17 of the wounded had been discharged and the treatment of the other wounded, one of whom is in intensive care, continued, Xinhua news agency reported.

The hotel was accommodating 238 guests during the busy holiday season. Kartalkaya is a popular ski resort in the Koroglu mountains, some 300 km east of Istanbul. Bolu is a city in northern Turkey, and administrative centre of the Bolu province and of Bolu district, located on the highway between Istanbul and Ankara.

Located at the top of the Koroglu mountains, 38 km from Bolu city centre, the ski and mountain hotel is spread over an area of 60,000 sq. m and is one of Turkey's premier winter tourism destinations, attracting thousands of visitors during the ski season.