At least 36 children died in the fire at the “Grand Kartal“ hotel in the Turkish ski resort of Kartalkaya, Turkish television CNN-Turk reports.
The Turkish Ministry of Justice announced yesterday that the victims of the tragedy that broke out on January 21 in the popular resort in the northwestern Bolu district are 78. All of them were identified after DNA examination.
CNN-Turk reported this morning that the Bolu municipality fire department has prepared a preliminary report on the fire.
It states that the first report of the fire was received at 03:30 at night. 11 fire engines and 30 personnel were dispatched, covering a distance of 42 km (from the district town of Bolu to the Kartalkaya resort).
The first team of firefighters arrived in the area of the burning hotel at 04:24.
The fire department report also states that 500 tons of water were used to extinguish the flames.
The text also specifies that based on what was shared by the hotel staff and eyewitnesses, as well as the investigation conducted so far, it was established that the fire started in the kitchen/restaurant area on the fourth floor of the multi-storey hotel with a wooden facade.
Currently, disputes and accusations continue about who is to blame for the tragedy, in particular due to the lack of any fire safety measures in the 4-star hotel “Grand Kartal“. Sharp criticism is also being leveled at the fact that the popular winter resort, which has many hotels, did not even have a small fire brigade.
A total of 12 people have been detained so far in connection with the tragedy. Among them are the hotel owner, the deputy mayor of Bolu, and the deputy head of the local fire department.
V. “Milliyet“ wrote the day after the tragedy that a night in the “horror hotel“ cost 32,000 Turkish liras (about 1,700 leva).