18th May 2025
The blaze happened at the Grand Kartal Hotel at the Kartalkaya ski resort in the early hours of January 21st 2025. There are accusations of safety failures on multiple levels. NEW
Prosecutors are demanding long jail terms for 32 suspects over the fire.
They want 13 suspects to serve up to 1,998 years behind bars on 78 counts of “killing with possible intent”.
Among them 13 are the hotel’s owner, managers and board members, as well as Bolu’s deputy mayor, deputy fire chief and another firefighter.
The prosecutors want another 19 people to each face jail terms of up to 22 years and six months for “causing death and injuries through conscious negligence”.
Among them are members of the hotel’s technical and kitchen staff, as well as several external maintenance experts.
Skiing in Turkey. Image © PlanetSKI
PlanetSKI reported on the blaze at the time from nearby Istanbul:
We skied in Kartalkaya in the previous season:
Skiing in Turkey. Image © PlanetSKI
The blaze started when a faulty electric grill plate in the kitchen overheated.
The fire was quickly out of control and the hotel filled with toxic smoke.
The flames also spread to wooden cladding on the exterior of the hotel.
The indictment found there was ‘no audible warning’ system and that the hotel’s ‘emergency action plan was inadequate’ with its staff ‘inexperienced and untrained… and caused the fire to accelerate by opening the main doors of the car park’.
It was the busy winter school holidays and there were 238 guests at the hotel at the time.
Many survivors said that there were no alarms, no fire doors and no safe ways for people to leave the hotel.
PlanetSKI: Number 1 for digital ski news
Your digital platform for ski news, resort information, travel, equipment rental, sport, money saving deals and everything connected with snowsports – web site, social media & more.