Fire at Turkey Ski Resort Kills at Least 66

A fire blazed through a 12-story hotel at a ski resort in Turkey on Tuesday, killing at least 66 people and injuring 51 others, the authorities said, turning an idyllic vacation spot into a smoke-filled nightmare.

The disaster struck during Turkey’s winter holiday, when children are off school and many families go on vacation, including to ski resorts. It was not clear how many children were among the dead, but a number were reported by acquaintances.

The cause of the fire was unclear.

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said on social media that six prosecutors had been assigned to investigate the blaze and that four people, including the hotel’s owner, had been detained.

The fire broke out before dawn in the Grand Kartal Hotel in Kartalkaya, 180 miles east of Istanbul, sending large flames from the windows and thick smoke billowing from the roof.

About 230 guests were believed to be in the hotel at the time, in addition to a number of employees. Some survivors told the Turkish news media of terrifying escapes, exacerbated by a lack of fire alarms or clear fire escapes.

“The smoke was so intense that we could hardly breathe,” Eylem Senturk, who was vacationing at the hotel with her family, told the state-run Anadolu news agency.