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The victims were named as Yahya Usta, president of the Turkish
Ski and Snowboard Teachers Association, and his 25-year-old son
Berkin, a skier who represented Turkey at the 2022 Beijing
Winter Olympic Games. Yahya Usta, his son and wife were staying
on the hotel's fifth floor.
The Kervansaray Hotel in Uludag, Bursa province, was empty of
guests when the fire started at 5:30 a.m. but 12 staff were
present, Bursa governor’s office said. Several people suffering
smoke inhalation were hospitalized.
The 30-year-old hotel was shut down in early January when its
accommodation permit was cancelled, the governor's office added.
TV images showed flames quickly engulfing the six-story hotel,
located on the slopes of one of Turkey’s most popular ski
destinations, less than a three-hour drive from Istanbul.
Fire crews brought the blaze under control within two hours but
not before the upper floors had been gutted.
Bursa Mayor Mustafa Bozbey said the fire began in the cafeteria.
“I learned with deep sorrow that our national athlete Berkin
Usta and his father Yahya Usta lost their lives in the fire that
broke out in the hotel in Uludag.” Sports Minister Osman Askin
Bak said.
Prosecutors have launched an investigation into the Bursa fire.
In January a 12-story ski resort hotel in northwestern Turkey
went up in flames during a school holiday, killing 79.
That fire, at the Grand Kartal hotel in Kartalkaya, in Bolu
province’s Koroglu mountains, also started in the hotel's dining
area.
The state-run Anadolu news agency on Wednesday reported fresh
arrests relating to the Bolu fire, taking the number of people
in detention awaiting trial to 28.
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