LAST UPDATE | 21 Jan

AT LEAST 76 people have died after a major fire broke out at a ski resort in northwestern Turkey overnight, the interior minister has confirmed.

Turkish authorities detained four suspects including the owner of the hotel at a popular holiday resort in northwest Turkey following the deadly fire.

“As part of an investigation led by six prosecutors, four people including the hotel owner were detained,” Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said on social media.

The massive fire engulfed all 12-stories of the hotel in Bolu, approximately 200km from the capital Ankara. A total of 51 people were injured.

Ali Yerlikaya, the interior affairs minister, told reporters at a press conference this afternoon that one of those who has been injured remains in a critical condition while 17 people have since been discharged from hospital.

The remaining injured hotel guests are still receiving treatment and are in a good condition, he said. There was 238 guests at the hotel when the fire broke out just before 3.30am local time (12.30am Irish time).

“Our pain is great,” Ali Yerlikaya told reporters at the Kartalkaya resort.

Footage revealed hotel sheets hanging from the hotel’s windows indicating some tied them in order to escape the blaze. Media reports suggests some had died after trying to jump to safety.

Local media reports suggest that the fire began in the hotel’s restaurant on the bottom floor and spread to other storeys quickly, though it is not immediately clear what the cause of the fire was.

Firefighters have reported that they had great difficulty extinguishing the fire as the hotel backed onto a steep slope. This meant that units could only put out the blaze from the front and the side of the building.

The interior minister confirmed this afternoon that the fire has since been fully extinguished and that his department have appointed building inspectors and public investigators to the case.

A valid fire certificate was handed over to authorities, according to Yerlikaya. Six public prosecutors have also begun a formal judicial investigation.

Television footage showed huge plumes of smoke rising into the sky with a snow-capped mountain behind the hotel. Authorities warned the building could collapse.

A survivor who managed to escape the flames told local media that no alarms rang at the hotel when the fire started, complaining lack of any safety measures including fire stairs or smoke detector.

“I pray to God for mercy upon our citizens who lost their lives in the fire,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on X.

He said he wished a speedy recovery to the injured affected by “this tragic accident”, adding that an investigation had been launched.

Contains reporting from © AFP 2025, Nicky Ryan and Andrew Walsh.