An Olympic skier and his dad died in a blaze at a closed ski resort hotel in Turkey on Thursday.
Berkin Usta, 25, and his dad Yahya were killed after a devastating fire broke out at the Kervansaray Hotel in Uludag, Bursa province.
Usta had competed in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games and was the founder of a team called Skicraft. His father had been president of the Turkish Ski and Snowboard Teachers Association.
Just hours before, the talented sportsman had posted a comforting video by a log fire on his Instagram Stories page. After his passing, an outpouring of comments paying tribute to him flooded in.
‘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. It comes just two months after a fire ripped through a 12-story ski resort hotel in northwestern Turkey, killing 79 people.
Turkish Olympic skier Berkin Usta, 25, died alongside his dad in a hotel fire on Thursday
He had competed in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games and died at a closed resort hotel
Usta was the founder of a team called Skicraft, with their page first posting in December
Father Yayha Usta’s wife was also said to be staying in the Bursa hotel but she has not been mentioned as dead.
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 hospitalised.
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.
More to follow.