An Olympic skier has died along with his dad after a fire broke out at an abandoned ski resort hotel in Turkey on Thursday.
Berkin Usta, 25, and his 57-year-old dad Yahya were killed after the fire broke out at the Kervansaray Hotel in Uludag, Bursa province in the northwest region of the country.
The father and son were staying on the hotel’s fifth floor with Yahya’s wife who survived the blaze which started at 5.30am in the building’s 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,’ a statement from Sports Minister Osman Askin Bak said.
Usta competed in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games for Turkey where he finished 43rd in the Grand Slalom.
His father was the president of the Turkish Ski and Snowboard Teachers Association.
Twelve staff were also present at the time, according to Bursa governor’s office, with several people hospitalised after suffering from smoke inhalation.
Prosecutors have launched an investigation but have not confirmed why they were staying at the hotel or if any of them were members of staff. The state-run Anadolu Agency later reported that the hotel manager had been detained.
The 30-year-old hotel had been shut down in early January after its accommodation permit was cancelled, the governor’s office added.
TV images showed flames quickly engulfing the six-storey hotel which is located on the slopes of one of Turkey’s most popular ski destinations, less than a three-hour drive from Istanbul.
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Fire crews managed to bring the blaze under control within two hours, but not before the upper floors of the building had been gutted by the blaze.
The tragic incident comes just two months after 79 people were killed in another fire at a ski resort hotel in northwestern Turkey
It is believed the fire started in the hotel restaurant before quickly spreading through the building’s wooden interior as guests slept.
Turkish news agencies reported on Wednesday that new arrests had been made relating to the Bolu fire, taking the number of people in detention awaiting trial to 28.
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