At least 76 people have died and more than 50 others were injured in a fire at a hotel at a ski resort in northwestern Turkey.

The blaze broke out in the restaurant of the 12-story Grand Kartal hotel in the mountain-top resort of Kartalkaya at 3:27 a.m. local time (0027 GMT) on Tuesday.

 "Our pain is great," Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told reporters at the scene.

According to the minister, 52 of the victims had been identified, while forensic experts are working to determine the identities of the others.

Meanwhile, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared Wednesday a national day of mourning following the incident.

Panicked guests climbed out windows

Some of the victims are reported to have died after jumping from the building in panic, while local media also described guests trying to climb down from their rooms using bedsheets and blankets.

Television footage showed the roof and top floors of the hotel on fire, sending plumes of smoke into the sky with a snowcapped mountain in the background.

The hotel was reported to be between 80-90% full due to school holidays, with 238 guests checked in, authorities said.

"One father was yelling about his one-year-old child: 'I will throw my child, or he will burn'," said Omer Sakrak, a witness who works at a neighboring hotel.

Necmi Kepcetutan, a ski instructor at the hotel, told private broadcaster NTV he had helped around 20 people to evacuate the building, but that it was difficult to locate fire escapes due to the smoke.

"I cannot reach some of my students," he said. "I hope they are OK."

Turkish authorities launch investigation

Reporters for NTV suggested that the design of the 161-room hotel, with wooden chalet-style cladding, may have accelerated the spread of the fire.

Officials said 30 fire trucks and 28 ambulances were dispatched to the site, but the hotel's location backed onto a cliff was hampering  firefighters' efforts to tackle the flames.

Other nearby hotels were evacuated as a precaution, with guests relocated in other accommodation in the area.

Kartalkaya is a popular ski resort in the Koroglu mountains, some 300 kilometers (185 miles) east of Istanbul and 170 kilometers (100 miles) northwest of the capital, Ankara.

President Erdogan vowed that those responsible would be "held to account".

Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said six prosecutors had been appointed to lead an investigation into the fire, the exact cause of which remains unclear.

Police arrested nine people as part of the investigation, officials said.

Fire alarms did not go off, says witness

Tourism Minister Nuri Ersoy said the hotel had two fire escapes and successfully passed a fire inspection in 2024.

However, some survivors claimed there seemed to be no safety mechanisms in place. Witnesses said the hotel's fire detection system failed to activate.

"My wife smelled the burning. The alarm did not go off," said Atakan Yelkovan, a guest staying on the third floor, speaking to the IHA news agency.

"We tried to go upstairs but couldn't, there were flames. We went downstairs and came outside," he said, adding that it took about an hour for the fire brigade to arrive.

"People on the upper floors were screaming," he said. "They hung down sheets ... some tried to jump."

mf/nm (AFP, AP, dpa)