Ten dead, 32 injured in Turkish ski resort hotel fire

A fire at a ski resort hotel has killed at least 10 people and injured 32 others in northwestern Turkey as TV footage showed crews fighting flames and smoke that engulfed the 11-storey building.

The blaze began on the restaurant floor of the hotel at Bolu's Kartalkaya ski resort early Tuesday local time, Bolu governor Abdulaziz Aydin told state broadcaster TRT.

He said there were 234 guests at the Grand Kartal Hotel, which has a broad wooden exterior.

The fire comes at the beginning of a nationwide two-week school holiday, a time when skiers from nearby Istanbul and Ankara usually head to the Bolu mountains.

TV footage showed several fire engines surrounding the charred hotel at the base of the ski slopes, with white bed sheets tied together and dangling from one upper-floor window.

The death toll had risen to 10, with 32 injured, from an earlier lower count, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X, adding more than 250 first responders attended to the incident.

An eyewitness told the newspaper H?rriyet that he had seen people jumping out of the window.

Footage on social media showed people calling for help.

"We can't get down, help us," a woman was heard shouting from a hotel window. Flames could be seen blazing behind them. "Where is the fire department?" people standing on the ground yelled.

Local broadcaster CNN T?rk said strong winds made extinguishing the fire difficult. Emergency services continued to fight the flames in the morning.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his condolences to the victims on X.

The mayor of the town, Tanju Ozcan, said the hotel was one of the oldest in the area and was made primarily of wood. This could have led to the fire spreading quickly.

Investigators were looking into what caused the blaze, authorities said.

with AP and DPA