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Arab News
6 days ago
- Arab News
Turkiye court postpones hearing over hotel fire
ISTANBUL: A Turkish court on Thursday adjourned the trial of 32 people over a fire January at a luxury ski resort hotel that killed 78 people, after 10 days of harrowing testimony. Since the trial opened on July 7, survivors, many of them in tears, have told the court how they escaped the deadly blaze, whose victims included 36 children. The fire swept through the Grand Kartal Hotel in the northern mountain resort of Kartalkaya on January 21. As well as the 78 people killed in the fire, another 130 people were injured. The court is considering allegations that poor safety measures at the hotel contributed to the disaster. Among the defendants facing manslaughter charges are the hotel's owner, managers, the deputy mayor of Bolu city and two fire department officials. 'Everyone including the employees and bosses lied in their initial statements,' said Yusuf Yaman, the private DHA news agency reported. Yaman lost his daughter and grand-daughter in the fire. 'We lost 78 lives. They're all my children. If they (the suspects) had shown courage, if they had confessed everything, they would have had a clearer conscience,' he added. After the fire, the different organizations under scrutiny denied responsibility, the tourism ministry and the local municipality run by the main opposition CHP party blaming each other. At the end of the 10-day hearing, the hotel's director and owner Emir Aras expressed regret. He told the judge he did not want to be released from detention, DHA reported. The court postponed the hearing to September 22.
Asharq Al-Awsat
07-07-2025
- Asharq Al-Awsat
32 Go on Trial Over Fatal Hotel Fire in Türkiye
Thirty-two people went on trial in Türkiye on Monday over a fire at a luxury ski resort hotel in January that killed 78 people, including 36 children, local media reported. Entire families perished when the huge blaze swept through the Grand Kartal Hotel in the northern mountain resort of Kartalkaya in the early hours of January 21. Questions have multiplied about fire safety measures at the hotel and victims' families allege that negligence contributed to the high death toll. More than 130 people were injured and the 12-storey building was destroyed. Thirteen of the defendants -- including senior officials at the hotel, the fire department and the city council -- face up to 1,998 years in prison each on 78 charges, including "manslaughter with possible intent" to kill, AFP reported. Survivors and experts have said the hotel's fire alarm system did not work. According to the indictment, the suspects facing manslaughter charges include the hotel's owner, managers and members of the board, the deputy mayor of Bolu city and two fire department officials. Before the hearing, victims' families gathered outside Bolu high school, where the trial is taking place, carrying portraits of the deceased. They read out a statement, alleging countless breaches of safety and attempts to conceal evidence. "During the fire, the owners, managers and employees of the Grand Kartal Hotel failed to alert guests or activate the alarm system. "They rushed to save their cars while our loved ones were suffocating in the smoke," they alleged. "An inspection report drawn up just one month before the fire clearly showed a lack of fire safety measures but the hotel owners ignored it on the grounds that the measures would be too costly," they continued. "We know that the authorities turned a blind eye to this negligence, that evidence was concealed and that the camera recordings were deleted." At the time of the fire, the tourism ministry and Bolu city council blamed each other for the disaster. Due to the large number of defendants and plaintiffs -- 210 civil parties, the Bolu High Criminal Court is sitting at the high school's sports hall. Ozgur Ozel, leader of the main opposition CHP, would attend the hearing, the social-democratic party said. The trial is expected to last two weeks.
CNA
07-07-2025
- CNA
32 go on trial over fatal hotel fire in Türkiye
ISTANBUL: Thirty-two people went on trial in Türkiye on Monday (Jul 7) over a fire at a luxury ski resort hotel in January that killed 78 people, including 36 children, local media reported. Entire families perished when the huge blaze swept through the Grand Kartal Hotel in the northern mountain resort of Kartalkaya in the early hours of Jan 21. Questions have multiplied about fire safety measures at the hotel and victims' families allege that negligence contributed to the high death toll. More than 130 people were injured and the 12-storey building was destroyed. Thirteen of the defendants - including senior officials at the hotel, the fire department and the city council - face up to 1,998 years in prison each on 78 charges, including "manslaughter with possible intent" to kill. Survivors and experts have said the hotel's fire alarm system did not work. According to the indictment, the suspects facing manslaughter charges include the hotel's owner, managers and members of the board, the deputy mayor of Bolu city and two fire department officials. Before the hearing, victims' families gathered outside Bolu High School, where the trial is taking place, carrying portraits of the deceased. They read out a statement, alleging countless breaches of safety and attempts to conceal evidence. During the fire, the owners, managers and employees of the Grand Kartal Hotel failed to alert guests or activate the alarm system. "They rushed to save their cars while our loved ones were suffocating in the smoke," they alleged. "An inspection report drawn up just one month before the fire clearly showed a lack of fire safety measures but the hotel owners ignored it on the grounds that the measures would be too costly," they continued. "We know that the authorities turned a blind eye to this negligence, that evidence was concealed and that the camera recordings were deleted." At the time of the fire, the tourism ministry and the Bolu city council blamed each other for the disaster. Due to the large number of defendants and plaintiffs - 210 civil parties, the Bolu High Criminal Court is sitting at the high school's sports hall. Ozgur Ozel, leader of the main opposition CHP, would attend the hearing, the social-democratic party said.
Arab News
07-07-2025
- Arab News
32 go on trial over fatal hotel fire in Turkiye
ISTANBUL: Thirty-two people went on trial in Turkiye on Monday over a fire at a luxury ski resort hotel in January that killed 78 people, including 36 children, local media reported. Entire families perished when the huge blaze swept through the Grand Kartal Hotel in the northern mountain resort of Kartalkaya in the early hours of January 21. Questions have multiplied about fire safety measures at the hotel and victims' families allege that negligence contributed to the high death toll. More than 130 people were injured and the 12-story building was destroyed. Thirteen of the defendants – including senior officials at the hotel, the fire department and the city council – face up to 1,998 years in prison each on 78 charges, including 'manslaughter with possible intent' to kill. Survivors and experts have said the hotel's fire alarm system did not work. According to the indictment, the suspects facing manslaughter charges include the hotel's owner, managers and members of the board, the deputy mayor of town of Bolu and two fire department officials. Before the hearing, victims' families gathered outside Bolu high school, where the trial is taking place, carrying portraits of the deceased. They read out a statement, alleging countless breaches of safety and attempts to conceal evidence. 'During the fire, the owners, managers and employees of the Grand Kartal Hotel failed to alert guests or activate the alarm system. 'They rushed to save their cars while our loved ones were suffocating in the smoke,' they alleged. 'An inspection report drawn up just one month before the fire clearly showed a lack of fire safety measures but the hotel owners ignored it on the grounds that the measures would be too costly,' they continued. 'We know that the authorities turned a blind eye to this negligence, that evidence was concealed and that the camera recordings were deleted.' At the time of the fire, the tourism ministry and Bolu city council blamed each other for the disaster. Due to the large number of defendants and plaintiffs – 210 civil parties, the Bolu High Criminal Court is sitting at the high school's sports hall. Ozgur Ozel, leader of the main opposition CHP, would attend the hearing, the social-democratic party said. The trial is expected to last two weeks.
CTV News
07-07-2025
- CTV News
High-profile trial for deadly hotel fire that killed 78 opens in Turkiye
Firefighters work to extinguish a fire in a hotel at a ski resort of Kartalkaya, located in Bolu province, in northwest Turkey, Jan. 21, 2025. (Enes Ozkan/IHA via AP, File) ISTANBUL — A total of 32 defendants went on trial on Monday over a deadly fire that tore through a popular ski resort hotel, killing 78 people and injuring 133 others. The Jan. 21 fire hit the 12-story Grand Kartal Hotel at the Kartalkaya ski resort in the province of Bolu during the winter school break. Dozens of children taking family vacations were among the victims. The tragedy, which saw guests and staff jump out of windows to escape smoke and flame-filled rooms or dangle sheets out of windows to lower themselves down, sent shockwaves across Turkey and sparked widespread calls for accountability over negligence and safety violations. Thirteen of the defendants face potential jail terms of 1,998 years each on charges of killing or wounding with possible intent, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency, citing a 98-page indictment from the Bolu Public Prosecutor's Office. The 19 others are charged with negligently causing death or injury, for which they could be jailed for 22 1/2 years. With 210 plaintiffs and 32 defendants involved in the high-profile case, the trial is taking place at a sports center in Bolu that has been temporarily converted into a 700-seat courtroom to accommodate the proceedings, Anadolu reported. On Monday, family members and friends of the victims staged a demonstration outside the sports center, holding up posters of their loved ones and demanding justice. 'This is not neglect, it is murder,' the Anadolu Agency quoted Zeynep Kotan, the mother of 17-year-old Omur Kotan, who lost her life in the fire, as saying. The fire started at 3.17 a.m. local time as a spark from an electric grill plate in the fourth-floor kitchen lit a nearby garbage bin before melting the hose of a liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, and igniting the gas. Staff first noticed the flames at 3.24 a.m. and called the emergency services but within two minutes the blaze had 'exceeded controllable limits,' according to the indictment. The blaze took hold of the wooden ceiling, accelerated by the flow of air from a door left open by escaping kitchen staff. The indictment says that inadequate measures on the stairs and elevators and the lack of a smoke extraction system caused flammable and toxic fumes to swiftly spread to the upper floors, filling corridors with smoke. The lack of emergency alarms, faulty fire detection and warning systems and insufficient staff fire training meant the hotel's 238 guests were not alerted to the blaze in time. Escape routes through the stairways and emergency exits were not properly fitted and there was no sprinkler system, turning the hotel's stairwells and life shafts into 'chimneys' for the smoke to quickly reach the upper floors. The indictment adds that the absence of emergency lighting, fire escape signs and alternative exits stopped the safe evacuation of guests. The 14-day trial will hear that legal responsibility lay with owner Halit Ergul and company board members, including his wife and daughters, and managers. Also facing the higher punishment are Bolu's deputy mayor and deputy fire chief. Those facing the lesser charges consist of hotel staff, inspection officials and maintenance workers. The hotel first opened in 1999 and has been operated by Ergul's company since 2007. In a statement to prosecutors made within days of the fire, Ergul said the hotel was checked for fire safety every two years by government-authorized inspectors before receiving a tourism certificate, allowing it to operate. The most recent certificate was due to expire in March. The hotel's last inspection by the Culture and Tourism Ministry was conducted five weeks before the fire, Ergul said. Andrew Wilks And Suzan Fraser, The Associated Press
