Kathryn Armstrong<\/span><\/p>\nBBC News<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
Esra Yalcinalp & Aynur Tekin<\/span><\/p>\nBBC Turkish<\/span><\/p>\nReporting fromDeadly fire at Turkey ski resort hotel<\/figcaption><\/p>\n\n
A day of mourning is under way in Turkey for the 76 victims of a fire that engulfed a popular ski resort hotel in the country’s north-west. <\/p>\n
The fire broke out at the wooden-clad 12-storey Grand Kartal Hotel in Bolu at 03:27 local time (00:27 GMT) during a busy holiday period when 234 people were staying there. It took 12 hours to put out. <\/p>\n
An investigation has been launched into the incident and there have been conflicting reports about whether the hotel was up to safety standards. <\/p>\n
Nine people have been arrested, including the hotel’s owner. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is expected to visit Bolu on Wednesday, said those responsible for negligence leading to the fire “will be held accountable”.<\/p>\n
Flags are flying at half-mast across Turkey in memory of the victims of the fire, while the first funerals are being held. <\/p>\n
Search and rescue teams are making their final efforts to find any remaining bodies. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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The authorities said that they were assessing all risks, including the possibility of collapse, for the building.<\/p>\n
Alongside the fatalities, 51 people were injured in the fire, according to health minister Kemal Memisoglu. One was receiving treatment in intensive care, and 17 people have been discharged. Relatives have been gathering outside the hospitals where they are being treated. <\/p>\n
A person the BBC met in front of the morgue said that he had received news that seven of his relatives had died and that he had visited hospitals looking for their bodies. He later learned that the morgue was empty.<\/p>\n
Footage circulating showed linen hanging from windows which was used by those trying to escape the burning building. On Wednesday, these could still be seen swaying in the wind. <\/p>\n
The cause of the fire has not yet been found, but Bolu governor Abdulaziz Aydin said initial reports suggested it had broken out in the restaurant section of the hotel’s fourth floor and spread to the floors above.<\/p>\n
Aydin said the hotel’s remote location and freezing conditions meant it took more than an hour for fire engines to arrive.<\/p>\n
The hotel was last inspected in 2024, and the tourism minister said there had been no concerns regarding the hotel’s fire safety prior to Tuesday’s disaster.<\/p>\n
However, the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) said that, according to regulations, an automatic fire extinguisher system was needed, and it appeared from photos of the hotel that one had not been installed.<\/p>\n
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”.<\/p>\n
Some survivors reported that they had not heard any fire alarms. <\/p>\n
The Bolu mountains are popular with skiers from Istanbul and Turkey’s capital Ankara, which is roughly 170km (105 miles) away, and the hotel was operating at high occupancy at the start of the two-week school holidays.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n