Desperate guests at a Turkish ski resort that exploded into flames tried to escape using bedsheets as ropes hanging from the windows, while others died after trying to jump to safety.

As flames tore through a 12-story hotel at a popular ski resort in northwestern Turkey, friends Esra Karakisa and Halime Cetin watched helpless as the horror unfolded before them, with people leaning out of smoke-filled rooms pleading for help and others making the harrowing decision to jump.

The 12-story Grand Kartal hotel in the resort of Kartalkaya in Bolu province was completely destroyed by a massive fire overnight, with 234 guests staying there at the time of the fire

A tragic fire has occurred at the Kartalkaya ski resort in the northwestern part of Turkey. The death toll has already risen to 76 people, including entire families and many children. A national day of mourning has been declared in the country.

The fire at the Grand Kartal Hotel in Kartalya, in the Koroglu mountains in Bolu province, on Tuesday left at least 76 people and 51 injured.

STORY: Turkey has detained eleven people as part of an investigation into a fire that killed at least 79 people and injured dozens at a ski resort in the Bolu mountains, authorities said.The fire took place at the Grand Kartal Hotel in the Kartalkaya ski resort - a 12-story hotel which had 238 registered guests.

Officials in Turkey say that a fire has raged through a 12-story hotel at a popular ski resort in the northwestern part of the country during a school holiday, killing at least 76 people.