Mayor Fires Back at Critics After Ski Resort Fire Killed 76, Calls Allegations 'Lies and Slander'

Mar. 15, 2025

Fire damage at the Kartalkaya Ski Resort.Photo:Evrim Aydin/Anadolu via Getty

Evrim Aydin/Anadolu via Getty

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated. The initial story incorrectly asserted that Mayor Tanju Özcan of Bolu had been detained, which is not true. This has been corrected in the current text.

A mayor is firing back at critics after a fire at aski-resort killed 76 guestsin Turkey’s Bolu province.

Bolu mayor Tanju Özcanwrote on Xthat the allegations of misconduct prior to the fire involving him were “lies and slander.”

It wasn’t immediately clear what misconduct he was referring to. He is amember of Turkey’s opposition party, Reuters reported earlier this month.

Funeral prayers for Turkey ski-resort fire victims.Mert Gokhan Koc/ dia images via Getty

Mert Gokhan Koc/ dia images via Getty

The fire, at the Grand Kartal Hotel, in the resort of Kartalkaya, left 76 people dead, includingentire families and 20 children, per local outletsSerbestiyet, theHürriyet Daily NewsandTurkish Minute.

“At least a quarter of our customers were children,” Necmi Kepçetutan, a 58-year-old ski instructor,toldSözcü. “I have students I couldn’t reach. I don’t know where they are. I’m just praying.”

Several survivors have claimed the fire alarms did not ring for a lengthy period after the fire broke out, theBBCreported.

“My wife smelled the burning. The alarm did not go off,” Atakan Yelkovan, a guest at the hotel told the news agency IHA, per theAssociated Press. “We tried to go upstairs but couldn’t, there were flames. We went downstairs and came [outside]."

Some guests said that firefighters did not arrive for a long time, per the BBC.

The firefighters' response time was slowed due to the frigid weather as well as the resort’s distance from the city center, Bolu governor Abdulaziz Aydin previously said, per the outlet.

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The investigation into the fire is “being carried out with great sensitivity, multi-faceted and meticulousness,” Tunç said on X on Wednesday.

No Americans have been reported to be injured or present at the resort as of publication time.

source: people.com