A 12-story hotel in Kartalkaya, a popular ski resort in Turkey's Bolu Province, caught fire in the early hours of Tuesday, pre-dawn. 238 people were at the hotel, many of whom were families who were spending the winter break together skiing. The authorities report that 79 people were killed in the fire&nbsp;and dozens more are injured. 38 of the fire victims were children.The survivors who spoke about the fire, which caught most of the guests asleep, said that the hotel lacked fire exits, alarms, sprinklers, and procedures in place to guide the guests to safety. The cause of the fire is not yet known. A day of national mourning was declared following the tragedy.<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2025/0/3/1737558778741.jpeg" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="1.79" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">Due to lack of fire escapes and ladders, guests at the hotel had to resort to using bed sheets to climb down from upper floors. This picture became a symbol of gross neglect of responsibilities on the part of the hotel and regulatorsJustice Minister Yılmaz Tunç on Tuesday said that six prosecutors had been assigned to investigate the fire and that four people, including the hotel's owner, had been detained. 19 people have been arrested; these include Bolu's Deputy Mayor, Deputy Fire Chief, and the owner of the hotel.<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Another tragedy tests the nerves of the public</h2>Once the news of the fire started to circulate on social media, Turks, who have experienced plenty of grief over the last few years due to natural disasters, braced for yet another national tragedy. This quickly triggered a political blame-game: Ministry of Culture and Tourism (directed by Turkey's ruling AK Party) and Municipality of Bolu (ran by Turkey's main opposition party, CHP) immediately accused one another over issued fire permits and regulations not abided by.Many people who had loved ones spending their vacations in the area panicked and posted on social media to see if they could get in touch with anyone who had heard news of them.<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Why the uproar?</h2>This news come at a time when there is increasing displeasure in the public over the lenient prosecutions of those responsible of preventible loss of life during the February 6, 2023 earthquakes&nbsp;that claimed more than 53,000 lives, officially. No high-ranking public officials have been held to account since, and many contractors who were found directly responsible for deaths were either nor brought to justice by law enforcement officials or were handed light sentences, causing uproar.In many ways, this fire and its aftermath is mimicking other tragedies such as the 2023 earthquakes: Lack of preparation and timely intervention, insufficient emergency care, and officials pointing fingers rather than assuming responsibility.<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2025/0/3/1737559371833.jpeg" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="1.79" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">A drone view shows the aftermath of a fire at a hotel in the ski resort of Kartalkaya in Bolu, Turkey, January 21, 2025. | Reuters/Murad Sezer Another similarity between this tragedy and earlier ones, including but not limited to the 2023 earthquakes, is the broadcast ban that came right after anti-government sentiment on social media became prominent. Due to this ban, members of the press were not allowed to report on the fire or its causes for a day. The government said that the purpose of the ban was to "prevent misinformation."<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">'Country of expensive lives and cheap deaths'</h2>On social media, the public is expressing grief and anger. "Ucuz ölümler ülkesi", translated literally as "the country of cheap deaths" is circulating widely to highlight how little is being done to prevent deaths and how widely it effects the people living in the country. This phrase later evolved to "Pahalı hayatlar ve ucuz ölümler ülkesi", with the added prefix of "expensive lives", pointing to ever-increasing cost of living in the country and one of the highest inflation rates in the world that has been persisting for years.The underlying message is that Turks no longer feel safe in their day-to-day lives and they are holding bad governance to account over the constant fear that they face.

Aposto World

A fire that broke out on Monday evening in a hotel in Turkey's popular Kartalkaya ski center has left dozens dead and injured. With schools at winter break, many families with kids were staying at the resort. The public is angry over yet another disaster which could have been prevented.

78 killed in ski resort fire: Uproar over preventable deaths

• <a fr-original-style="" href="https://edition.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/turkey-earthquake-latest-020623/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake</a> killed more than 3,000 people across a swathe of Turkey and northwest Syria on Monday, with freezing winter weather adding to the plight of the thousands left injured or homeless and hampering efforts to find survivors under mounds of rubble. It struck before sunrise in harsh weather and was followed by large aftershocks, including a major one at 7.5 magnitude.<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2023/1/1/1675715012602.png" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" ratio="0.82" width="550" alt="Earthquake in Turkey" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">via Reuters<ul fr-original-style="padding-inline-start: 20px;" style="padding-inline-start: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; list-style-position: inside; box-sizing: border-box;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Furthermore: The quake, which was centered on Turkey’s southeastern province of Kahramanmaras, was felt as far away as Cairo. More than 6,400 people were rescued across 10 provinces, according to Orhan Tatar, an official with Turkey’s disaster management authority. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared seven days of national mourning.</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Moreover: More than 10 search and rescue teams from the EU have been mobilized to support the first responders on the ground, <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-says-over-10-search-rescue-teams-mobilised-turkey-after-earthquake-2023-02-06/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">the European Commission said</a> in a statement, including teams from Bulgaria, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain. The EU said it was also ready to support those affected in Syria, but said it had not yet received a request from the country.</li></ul>

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