INTERNACIONAL
66 dead after fire erupts at popular ski hotel in Turkey
A fire at a hotel at a popular ski resort in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday killed at least 66 people, Turkey’s Interior Minister said.
Ali Yerlikaya said at least 51 other people were injured in the disaster.
«We are in deep pain. We have unfortunately lost 66 lives in the fire that broke out at this hotel,» Yerlikaya told reporters after inspecting the site.
Fire engulfs a 12-story hotel as firefighters work to extinguish the flames in Bolu, northwestern Turkey, Tuesday. (IHA)
Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu said at least one of the injured was in serious condition.
The fire broke out at around 3:30 a.m. in the restaurant of the 12-story Grand Kartal hotel in the resort of Kartalkaya in Bolu province, officials and reports said. The cause of the fire was under investigation.
Two of the victims died after jumping from the building in a panic, Gov. Abdulaziz Aydin told the state-run Anadolu Agency. Private NTV television said some people tried to climb down from their rooms using sheets and blankets.
There were 234 guests staying at the hotel, Aydin said.
COLLEGE ATHLETE DIES FROM TRAGIC ACCIDENT ON SKI RESORT’S MOST DIFFICULT TRAIL
Necmi Kepcetutan, a ski instructor at the hotel, said he was asleep when the fire erupted and he rushed out of the building. He told NTV television that he then helped some 20 guests out of the hotel.
He said the hotel was engulfed in smoke, making it difficult for guests to locate the fire escape.
«I cannot reach some of my students. I hope they are OK,» the ski instructor told the station.
Television images showed the roof and top floors of the hotel on fire.
LOS ANGELES WILDFIRES: ANNA FARIS LOSES PACIFIC PALISADES HOME, MOLLY SIMS WEEPS OVER ‘DEVASTATED’ COMMUNITY
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a joint statement to the media in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, April 22, 2024. (Ahmad Al-Rubaye /Pool Photo via AP)
Witnesses and reports said the hotel’s fire detection system failed to operate.
«My wife smelled the burning. The alarm did not go off,» Atakan Yelkovan, a guest staying on the third floor of the hotel, told the IHA news agency.
«We tried to go upstairs but couldn’t, there were flames. We went downstairs and came here (outside),» he said.
Yelkovan said it took about an hour for the firefighting teams to arrive.
«People on the upper floors were screaming. They hung down sheets … some tried to jump,» he said.
TEEN DEAD AT SKI RESORT NEAR POSH MOUNTAIN TOWN
A general view of the Turkish Consulate General in New York City, New York on Tuesday, November 14, 2023. (Fox News Digital)
The government appointed six prosecutors to lead an investigation into the fire. NTV television suggested that the wooden cladding on the exterior of the hotel, in a chalet-style design, may have accelerated the spread of the fire.
The 161-room hotel is on the side of a cliff, hampering efforts to combat the flames, the station also reported.
NTV showed a smoke-blackened lobby, its glass entrance and windows smashed, its wooden reception desk charred and a chandelier crashed to the ground.
Kartalkaya is a popular ski resort in the Koroglu mountains, some 300 kilometers (185 miles) east of Istanbul. The fire occurred during the school semester break when hotels in the region are packed.
Aydin’s office said 30 fire trucks and 28 ambulances were sent to the site.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Other hotels at the resort were evacuated as a precaution and guests were placed in hotels around Bolu.
Meanwhile, a gas explosion at a hotel at another ski resort in central Turkey injured four people.
The explosion took place at the Yildiz Mountain Winter Sports Center in Sivas province. Two skiers and their instructor were slightly injured while another instructor received second-degree burns on the hands and face, the Sivas governor’s office said.
In an address full of nuance, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday thanked President Donald Trump for his efforts to end the hostilities in Ukraine, but said he wanted lasting peace over a 30-day ceasefire.
«The idea itself is correct, and we certainly support it,» Putin said in a carefully worded message during a news conference in Moscow. «But there are issues that we need to discuss, and I think that we need to discuss it with our American colleagues and partners.»
«We agree with the proposals to halt the fighting, but we proceed from the assumption that the ceasefire should lead to lasting peace and remove the root causes of the crisis,» Putin added.
From left, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security advisor Mike Waltz meet with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Saudi National Security Advisor Mosaad bin Mohammad Al-Aiban, as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 18, 2025. (Associated Press)
RUSSIAN BORDER STATES EYE EXIT OF LANDMINE TREATY TO FORTIFY DEFENSES AND DETER PUTIN
Putin was careful not to directly say no to the 30-day ceasefire deal Ukraine agreed with earlier this week, but he also suggested there were too many variables to be discussed, like what happens to the Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk region, which he said will be fully surrounded in the coming days.
The Kremlin chief also claimed a ceasefire would only benefit Ukraine as it would allow Kyiv to mobilize and rearm.
«In these conditions, I believe it would be good for the Ukrainian side to secure a ceasefire for at least 30 days,» Putin said.
The Russian president’s comments echoed ones issued by his top aide earlier in the day when Yuri Ushakov told a Russian reporter, «Our position about this is that it’s nothing other than a temporary breathing space for Ukrainian forces and nothing else.»
«We believe that our goal is a long-term peaceful normalization – we are striving for this,» he added. «Our concerns are known. No one needs steps that imitate peaceful actions in this situation.»
Ushakov, who met with national security advisor Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month in Saudi Arabia, said ultimately Putin would address Moscow’s position on the ceasefire during a press conference later on Thursday.
The comments came after Ushakov said he spoke with Waltz and as special envoy Steve Witkoff landed in Moscow to further discuss the agreement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a joint news conference with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko following their talks at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Reports on Thursday suggested Russia has put forward its own wishlist items to achieve an end to the fighting, but those demands remain unconfirmed. Previous demands included barring Ukraine from joining NATO and control over the five Ukrainian regions it has illegally seized – only one of which Russia fully occupies.
Ukraine on Tuesday agreed to the 30-day ceasefire following an hours-long meeting with Waltz and Rubio in Saudi Arabia, contingent on the Kremlin’s acceptance of the terms.
The ceasefire was an attempt to get both sides to lay down their arms so that further negotiations on issues like territory, occupation status, the return of prisoners and the return of abducted Ukrainian children could then be hashed out.
The State Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s questions.
Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security advisor Mike Waltz are interviewed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 18, 2025. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool)
RUSSIA PRESENTS US WITH DEMANDS THAT NEED TO BE MET BEFORE ENDING UKRAINE WAR: REPORT
Russia ramped up its barrage of missile and drone attacks after the U.S. paused military aid and intelligence sharing after Trump suggested he didn’t believe Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was «serious» about peace.
The comments came following an Oval Office blow-up when Zelenskyy refused to sign a mineral deal without security guarantees from the U.S.
Vice President JD Vance accused the Ukrainian president of being «disrespectful.»
But following the successful talks with Ukraine in Jeddah this week, the U.S. immediately lifted its aid and intelligence pause.
«Ukraine is committed to moving quickly toward peace, and we are prepared to do our part in creating all of the conditions for a reliable, durable, and decent peace,» Zelenskyy said in a post on X Thursday. «I thank our teams for the fact that military aid and intelligence sharing resumed.
«Ukraine was ready for an air and sea ceasefire, but the U.S. proposed extending it to land. Ukraine welcomes this proposal,» he added.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a press conference at the Ukraine peace summit in Obbürgen, Switzerland, on June 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Zelenskyy said Putin’s thus far silence on the ceasefire proposal «once again demonstrates that Russia seeks to prolong the war and postpone peace for as long as possible.»
«We hope that U.S. pressure will be sufficient to compel Russia to end the war,» he added.
INTERNACIONAL
Donald Trump y el deseo de la anexión de Groenlandia a Estados Unidos: «Creo que sucederá»
El atractivo de la isla
President Donald Trump on Thursday said he is holding out «hope» that Russia will agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine as the first step to ending the brutal three-year-long war.
«We know where we are with Ukraine,» he told reporters while speaking from the Oval Office alongside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
«Hopefully they’ll do the right thing,» he added in reference to Russia.
President Donald Trump and Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the White House on July 18, 2019. Rutte, now NATO secretary-general met with Trump in the Oval Office on March 13, 2025. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
PUTIN THANKS TRUMP FOR PRINCIPLES OF CEASEFIRE PUSH, BUT DOES NOT SAY YES
Trump’s comments came just moments after Russian President Vladimir Putin gave an address in Moscow in which he thanked Trump for his ceasefire efforts, noting he agreed with them in «principle» but signaled he was not agreeing to the 30-day proposal as it stands now.
Trump said he was aware of Putin’s comments at the time of the Oval Office press conference and classified the Russian leader’s comments as «promising» but «incomplete.»
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a news conference at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
«He put out a very promising statement, but it wasn’t complete,» Trump said. «I’d love to meet with him or talk to him, but we have to get it over with fast.»
The president noted that Russian officials have flagged grievances relating to debates over the Zaporizhzhia power plant and Ukrainians’ admittance into NATO, which Putin also touched on during his address in Moscow.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
«A lot of the details of a final agreement have actually been discussed,» Trump told reporters moments after Putin’s remarks. «Now we’re going to see whether or not Russia is there.
«If they’re not, it’ll be a very disappointing moment for the world,» he added.
Check back on this developing story.
Putin thanks Trump for principles of ceasefire push, but does not say yes
La Cámara Nacional Electoral confirmó que las elecciones legislativas serán el próximo 26 de octubre
Los 5 CEDEARs recomendados para invertir y evitar el «efecto Trump»
Jonathan David, el ‘chollo’ del verano que impresiona en la Champions
La Cámara Electoral confirmó que las elecciones nacionales serán el 26 de octubre: el cronograma completo
Un ganador de “Gran Hermano” donará su premio para una noble causa
Documentos oficiales: la Argentina enfrenta 236 demandas fuera del país por más de US$27.000 millones
Santiago Cúneo: «El país necesita más gobernadores como Quintela» y lanza su candidatura para 2025″
Lilia Lemoine se peleó con Marcela Pagano y Rocío Bonacci por dar quórum a una iniciativa del peronismo
Pedro Rosemblat imitó a Javier Milei y se burló de Jonatan Viale tomando leche: «Hicieron una parodia de su entrevista»
El número de muertos por las inundaciones en Bahía Blanca subió a 15
El riesgo país cayó por debajo de los 700 puntos frente a la expectativa por el acuerdo con el FMI
Formula 1 y el Gran Premio de Australia: horario, TV y últimos antecedentes
La categoría reina del motorsport da luz verde a la temporada 2025 con el Gran Premio inaugural este fin de...
Bullrich sobre los barras que se movilizaron frente al Congreso: “Vinieron preparados para matar”
La ministra de Seguridad sostuvo que los incidentes en la marcha de jubilados fueron un intento de "voltear al Gobierno"....
Caos en el Congreso: un fotógrafo sufrió una fractura de cráneo y está en estado crítico
Pablo Grillo fue asistido por sus colegas y luego trasladado de urgencia al Hospital Ramos Mejía. La entrada Caos en...
-
POLITICA3 días agoSantiago Cúneo: «El país necesita más gobernadores como Quintela» y lanza su candidatura para 2025″
-
POLITICA20 horas ago
Lilia Lemoine se peleó con Marcela Pagano y Rocío Bonacci por dar quórum a una iniciativa del peronismo
-
POLITICA3 días ago
El Gobierno confirmó que Milei no viajará a Bahía Blanca y esquivó las críticas de Kicillof: “No es momento”
