Turkish ski resort fire kills 66, forces guests to jump from windows

A fire at a ski resort hotel in Turkey's Bolu mountains killed 66 people on Tuesday and forced panicked guests to jump out of windows in the middle of the night.

Some 51 people were also injured, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said at the Kartalkaya ski resort in northwest Turkey.

The fire began around 3:30 a.m. (0030 GMT) on the restaurant floor of the 12-storey Grand Kartal Hotel, authorities said.

Several fire engines and ambulances surrounded the charred, wood-fronted building, with white bed sheets tied together and dangling from one upper-floor window where people tried to flee.

Baris Salgur, a hotel guest, told broadcaster NTV that people jumped from windows to escape, including two women on the top floor who urged those on the ground to ready pillows. "When the fire got close they jumped right away," he said.

Another guest told Ekol TV that he and his family woke up to the fire but did not hear alarms, then entered smoke-filled corridors and eventually jumped from a lower-floor window onto snow below.

Yerlikaya said there were 238 guests at the hotel lying at the base of several ski slopes. It was still smouldering in the afternoon.

"I would like to share this pain, which is impossible to describe," he said in offering condolences.

"The fire has now been extinguished. Cooling efforts are ongoing. Since the back of the hotel is on a slope, fire extinguishing efforts could only be carried out from the front and side facades."

He added that fire crews began battling the blaze about 45 minutes after the first call.

An investigation was underway into the fire, which coincided with school holidays when many families from nearby Istanbul and Ankara head to the Bolu mountains to ski.