A fire that raged through a 12-story hotel in northern Turkiye killed at 76 people and injured 51 others, Turkiye’s state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) reported yesterday, citing the country’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya.
Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu reportedly said that of the injured, 17 had been discharged from hospital, while one remains in intensive care.
Al Jazeera reports that speaking to Turkish news outlet TRT, Bolu Governor Abdulaziz Aydin said the fire began on the fourth floor of the 11-storey hotel at about 3:30am (00:30 GMT). Hours later, firefighters were still working to put it out.
It was reportedly brought under control after 10 hours of work by firefighters, authorities told Anadolu Agency, while efforts to cool down the affected areas continue.
Emergency teams from neighboring cities, including firefighters, disaster response units, and medical teams supported by helicopters, were dispatched to the scene.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said four people, including the owner of the hotel, had been detained as part of the investigation. The investigations of the five-member expert committee on the cause of the fire are ongoing, and work is underway to determine the fault.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said that a total of nine people were detained as part of the ongoing investigation.an investigation into the incident was launched by a team of six prosecutors, along with a five-member expert committee.
According to the Associated Press (AP), Yerlikaya said 45 of the 76 people killed have been identified while efforts to identify the other victims were continuing.
