“I heard screams around midnight, (hotel) residents were shouting for help,” Baris Salgur, who works at a nearby hotel, told NTV television.
“They asked for a blanket, saying they will jump … we did what we could, we brought rope, pillows, we brought a sofa. Some people threw themselves once the flames approached them.”
Officials fear the number of dead could rise.
“NO SAFETY”
Footage showed the wrecked lobby of the hotel with shards of glass on the floor, the reception desk and the wooden furniture inside charred black.
Authorities warned the building could collapse.
A survivor who managed to escape the flames told local media that no alarms rang at the hotel when the fire started, complaining lack of any safety measures including fire stairs or smoke detector.
Footage revealed hotel sheets hanging from the hotel’s windows indicating some tied them in order to escape the blaze.
“I pray to God for mercy upon our citizens who lost their lives in the fire,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on X.
He said he wished a speedy recovery to the injured affected by “this tragic accident”, adding that an investigation had been launched.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said six prosecutors had been allocated to investigate the blaze.
Those evacuated were rehoused in nearby hotels.
