ISTANBUL: A Turkish court sentenced 11 people to life in prison on Friday over a fire that killed 78 people at a ski resort in northwest Turkiye’s Bolu mountains in January, state media reported.
Halit Ergul, owner of the Grand Kartal Hotel where the blaze erupted, was among the 11 defendants given aggravated life sentences by the court in Bolu province, according to state-run broadcaster TRT Haber.
Thirty-four children were among those killed in the fire, which occurred during school holidays when many families from nearby Istanbul and Ankara head to the Bolu mountains to ski. Another 137 people suffered injuries.
There were a total of 32 defendants in the trial, 20 of them in pre-trial detention, TRT said. Besides Ergul, the accused included hotel board members, managers and staff, as well as a deputy mayor and fire brigade personnel.
The disaster had triggered calls for accountability and reform. Independent experts said the hotel, at the Kartalkaya ski resort, lacked basic fire safety measures.
The blaze started in the restaurant floor of the 12-story building, where 238 guests were staying. It forced panicked hotel guests to jump from windows in the middle of the night.
Turkiye sentences 11 people to life in prison over ski resort hotel fire
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Turkiye sentences 11 people to life in prison over ski resort hotel fire
- Thirty-four children were among those killed in the fire
- There were a total of 32 defendants in the trial, 20 of them in pre-trial detention
Seven dead, 11 hurt in southern Turkiye bus crash
- Seven people died and 11 others were hurt early Saturday when an intercity bus crashed into a lorry on a motorway in southern Turkiye, the local governor’s office said
ISTANBUL: Seven people died and 11 others were hurt early Saturday when an intercity bus crashed into a lorry on a motorway in southern Turkiye, the local governor’s office said.
The incident, which happened before dawn on the highway linking the cities of Adana and Gaziantep, happened when a coach plowed into an articulated lorry that had stopped after one of its tires blew out, state news agency Anadolu said.
Footage from the scene showed the front right section of the bus was totally mangled where it hit the back of the lorry about 90 kilometers (55 miles) west of Gaziantep.
Quoting the Osmaniye governor’s office, Anadolu said all of the dead and injured were on board the bus with efforts ongoing to to identify the victims.
The lorry driver, who survived the crash, was detained with police closing down the road, it said.
