11 people were sentenced to life in prison in a Turkish court on Friday, October 31st, over a deadly ski resort fire that killed 78 people in Turkey’s Bolu mountains in January of 2025. According to Reuters, the owner of the Grand Kartal Hotel, Halit Ergul, was among those given aggravated life sentences by the Bolu court.
The fire occurred during a school holiday when many families from nearby Istanbul and Ankara had traveled to the Bolu mountains. 137 people suffered injuries, and 34 childred were among the 78 people killed.
The fire began in the building’s restaurant floor, forcing guests to leap from windows in the middle of the night to escape the burn. The disaster has since led to calls for accountability and reform, with independent experts claiming that the hotel lacked basic fire safety measures.
A total of 32 defendants were in the trial in Turkey, 20 of which were in pre-trial detention. Hotel board members, managers, staff, a deputy mayor, and fire brigade personnel were all part of the accused.
