{"id":221512,"date":"2025-01-22T16:40:07","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T16:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/22\/deadly-hotel-fire-at-turkish-ski-resort-stirs-grief-and-outrage\/"},"modified":"2025-01-22T16:40:08","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T16:40:08","slug":"deadly-hotel-fire-at-turkish-ski-resort-stirs-grief-and-outrage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/22\/deadly-hotel-fire-at-turkish-ski-resort-stirs-grief-and-outrage\/","title":{"rendered":"Deadly Hotel Fire at Turkish Ski Resort Stirs Grief and Outrage"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/22\/multimedia\/22turkey-fire-01-pjhb\/22turkey-fire-01-pjhb-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Deadly Hotel Fire at Turkish Ski Resort Stirs Grief and Outrage\" title=\"Deadly Hotel Fire at Turkish Ski Resort Stirs Grief and Outrage\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The first indication that tragedy had stricken their loved ones came around 5:30 a.m. in urgent messages to the family\u2019s WhatsApp group.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A brother and sister, trapped inside <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/21\/world\/europe\/turkey-ski-resort-fire.html\" title=\"\">a ski lodge in Turkey that had caught fire<\/a>, were pleading for help.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cSave us,\u201d they wrote, their uncle, Ozgur Turkmen, said in a phone interview. \u201cWe cannot reach our parents. There are no fire brigades.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Within hours, the siblings and their parents were dead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">They were among the at least 76 people killed on Tuesday when <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/21\/world\/europe\/turkey-ski-resort-fire.html\" title=\"\">a predawn blaze<\/a> broke out in the Grand Kartal Hotel at a ski resort 180 miles east of Istanbul.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As the fire tore through the 12-story lodge surrounded by snow-capped peaks, guests who had come during Turkey\u2019s winter break for ski vacations and the workers staying there found themselves inundated by thick smoke and struggling to escape.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Multiple survivors have said that they heard no fire alarms and could not find fire escapes. A Turkish engineers union said in a statement that photos from inside the hotel before the blaze showed no signs of a sprinkler system, which was supposed to have been installed years ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The sudden death of so many people during what was supposed to be a joyful winter trip has caused grief and outrage among survivors and relatives, some of whom have begun calling for accountability for officials who failed to ensure that the building was safe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI am angry, but I am suppressing it now,\u201d Mr. Turkmen said. \u201cI will first live my pain and then look for justice.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Turkey\u2019s justice minister said on Tuesday that prosecutors were investigating the blaze, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that anyone whose negligence had led to the fire would be punished.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Wednesday, attending a funeral near the resort for an extended family that lost 14 members in the fire, Mr. Erdogan struck a somber tone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe were hurt. Our hearts were burned,\u201d he said. \u201cI wish for patience for the family and for our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The hotel was within walking distance to the slopes and provided amenities aimed at pampering the upper-middle-class families who vacationed there. Some returned with their children year after year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It offered hot-stone and deep-tissue massages and had a playroom and indoor swimming pool. Its cozy, wood-paneled bar and restaurant had nooks for curling up near fireplaces.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The identities of those killed in the fire \u2014 reported in mournful statements and social media posts by colleagues, relatives, schools they attended and clubs they belonged to \u2014 indicated mostly affluent professionals, many alongside their children or other family members.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">They included: A business school dean and his daughter. A 10-year-old competitive swimmer and her mother. Sixth- and ninth-grade siblings and their mother; the father survived. Brothers who were managers at an energy company, and one son each. An orthodontist, her husband and their two children. Two cooks who worked in the hotel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Among those being mourned at the funeral that Mr. Erdogan attended was Zehra Gultekin, who worked in sales at Turkish Airlines. She died in the fire along with her husband, their four children and nine other relatives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Turkmen, whose niece and nephew had messaged relatives for help, said they had been on vacation with their father, Nedim, an accountant and newspaper columnist, and their mother, Ayse, a workplace-safety expert.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The family loved the hotel and had returned to it every winter for more than a decade, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The daughter, Ala Dora, 18, was in her last year of high school and had intended to study English or social sciences in Britain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Her brother, Yuce Ata, 22, had earned an economics degree in London and returned to Turkey to start a trade business.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She skied. He snowboarded.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When other relatives saw the siblings\u2019 messages, Mr. Turkmen said, they called him and he drove to the hotel. He later received his relatives\u2019 bodies, and it appeared that they had been trying to flee when they perished.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe key card was in my brother\u2019s pocket, and he took cash,\u201d Mr. Turkmen said. \u201cMy sister-in-law had her clothes on.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Deniz Bilici Gocmen, who was Nedim\u2019s editor at Sozcu newspaper, said in a phone interview that she had grown tired of disasters in Turkey causing what should have been avoidable deaths.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAs a citizen, I go to bed each night thinking about what I am going to wake up to each morning,\u201d she said, recalling <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/02\/06\/world\/middleeast\/turkey-earthquake-recovery-anniversary.html\" title=\"\">recent earthquakes<\/a> and a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/10\/15\/world\/europe\/turkey-mine-explosion.html\" title=\"\">deadly coal mine explosion<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cSuch grave and heavy losses,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/22\/world\/middleeast\/turkey-ski-resort-fire-families-grief.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first indication that tragedy had stricken their loved ones came around 5:30 a.m. in urgent messages to the family\u2019s WhatsApp group. A brother and sister, trapped inside a ski lodge in Turkey that had caught fire, were pleading for help. \u201cSave us,\u201d they wrote, their uncle, Ozgur Turkmen, said in a phone interview. \u201cWe [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/22\/multimedia\/22turkey-fire-01-pjhb\/22turkey-fire-01-pjhb-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11100,80,167650,174267,2605,4382,11947,64245,95521,4855,15556,18526],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221512"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221512"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221514,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221512\/revisions\/221514"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}