ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi and Kurdish leaders have offered condolences to the government and nation of Turkey for a deadly resort fire that killed 76 people on Tuesday.

 

"I’m deeply saddened by the tragic fire at a hotel in Bolu,” President Nechirvan Barzani said. “My thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and the people of Türkiye during this difficult time. We stand in solidarity with you."

 

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani also shared in his sadness over the “tragic” fire.

 

"I’m saddened by the tragic fire in Bolu,” PM Barzani wrote on X. “I offer my condolences to the families of the victims and to the people and government of Turkiye during this difficult time.”

 

A total of 76 people lost their lives, and around 50 others were wounded in the early hours of Tuesday after a deadly fire ripped through a hotel at a popular ski resort packed with holidaymakers in Kartalkaya, Turkey's northern Bolu district.

 

The struggle to bring the fire under control spanned nearly ten hours and involved units from Bolu, Duzce, Kocaeli, Sakarya, Karabuk, Zonguldak, Bartın, and Ankara, according to Turkish state media.

 

The Iraqi foreign ministry offered “its sincere condolences and sympathies to the government and people of the sisterly Republic of Turkey and to the families and relatives of the victims.”

 

President Masoud Barzani also extended his condolences to the families of the victims in an X post.

 

"The tragic fire at a hotel in Bolu, Turkey, which claimed numerous lives, is deeply saddening. I extend my heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and wish the injured a swift and complete recovery,” President Barzani said.

 

Turkey's Minister of the Interior Ali Yerlikaya said in a press conference on Tuesday that the cause of the fire has not been confirmed yet.

 

"The identities of 52 bodies were confirmed with their families and the bodies of 45 citizens who have passed away have been delivered to their families so far. As for the rest, their identity could not be confirmed. In this regard, identity and DNA determination studies are being carried out in the Forensic Medicine Institution. After the studies are completed quickly, they will be delivered to their families,” Yerlikaya added.

 

Nine people have already been detained as part of a probe into the tragic fire, Yerlikaya said.

 

"The entire process from the first day of the hotel to today is being examined in massive detail,” he explained.