Olympic skier Berkin Usta dies aged 24 in fire at winter resort hotel
The Olympic skier Berkin Usta and his father have died in a fire at a shut-down ski resort in Turkey.
Berkin, 24, and his father, Yahya, 57, were killed after a blaze broke out on Thursday at the Kervansaray hotel in the country's north-west.
Berkin represented Turkey at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, finishing 43rd in the giant slalom, while Yahya was president of the Turkish Ski and Snowboard Teachers Association.
'We have learned with deep sorrow that our national skier Berkin Usta, who represented our country at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games and the Erzurum 2017 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival, and his father, former national skier Yahya Usta, passed away due to a hotel fire in Uludağ, Bursa,' Team Turkey posted on X.
The hotel was empty of guests when the fire started at 5.30am but 12 staff members were present. Several people suffering smoke inhalation were hospitalised.
Prosecutors have launched an investigation into the blaze, with the hotel manager detained, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.
The 30-year-old hotel closed in early January when its accommodation permit was cancelled.
Authorities have not said why the pair and Yahya's wife, who survived, were staying there or if any of them were members of staff.
Acı KaybımızÜlkemizi Beijing 2022 Kış Olimpiyat Oyunları'nda ve Erzurum 2017 Avrupa Gençlik Olimpik Kış Festivali'nde temsil eden milli kayakçımız Berkin Usta'nın ve babası eski milli kayakçı Yahya Usta'nın Bursa, Uludağ'da gerçekleşen bir otel yangını nedeniyle vefat ettiğini… pic.twitter.com/XLupj9T2ca
'We have learned about the tragic death of Turkish Olympic skier Berkin Usta, and his father, in a terrible fire,' said the president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach.
'Berkin lived his Olympic dream by competing at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 in Alpine skiing. Our thoughts are with their family and friends.'
The mayor of Bursa province, Mustafa Bozbey, told the Associated Press that the the fire had begun in the cafeteria.
Television images showed flames quickly engulfing the six-storey hotel, which is located on the slopes of one of Turkey's most popular ski destinations, less than a three-hour drive from Istanbul.
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Fire crews brought the blaze under control within two hours but not before the upper floors were gutted.
'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,' said Turkey's sports minister, Osman Aşkin Bak.
The fire comes two months after a blaze at another winter resort in north-west Turkey left 79 dead.
The fire in January at the Grand Kartal hotel in Kartalkaya, in Bolu province's Köroğlu Mountains, started in the hotel's dining area.
On Wednesday Anadolu reported new arrests related to the Grand Kartal fire, taking the number of people in detention awaiting trial to 28.
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