Tragic Loss: Olympic Skier Berkin Usta and His Father Perish in Ski Resort Blaze

A tragic fire at a defunct ski resort hotel in northwestern Turkey has claimed the lives of an Olympic skier and his father, just two months after a separate incident at another winter resort resulted in 79 fatalities.

The deceased have been identified as Yahya Usta, who served as the president of the Turkish Ski and Snowboard Teachers Association, and his 25-year-old son, Berkin Usta, who had represented Turkey at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

“It is with profound sorrow that I learned of the passing of our national athlete, Berkin Usta, along with his father, Yahya Usta, in the hotel fire,” stated Sports Minister Osman Askin Bak.

The Kervansaray Hotel, situated in Uludag, Bursa province, had no guests at the time the fire broke out at 5:30 a.m., but 12 staff members were on site, according to the Bursa governor’s office. Several individuals suffering from smoke inhalation required hospitalisation.

Yahya Usta, along with his son and his wife, who survived the incident, were utilising a room on the fifth floor of the hotel. Authorities have yet to clarify the reason for their stay or whether any of them were part of the hotel staff.

Bursa Mayor Mustafa Bozbey reported that the fire originated in the cafeteria. An investigation has been launched by prosecutors, and according to the state-run Anadolu Agency, the hotel manager has been taken into custody.

The hotel, which had been in operation for 30 years, was shut down in early January following the cancellation of its accommodation permit, according to the governor’s office.

Footage from the scene depicted flames rapidly consuming the six-storey building, located on the slopes of one of Turkey’s most popular ski resorts and just under a three-hour drive from Istanbul.

Firefighters managed to contain the inferno within two hours, though the upper levels of the hotel were severely damaged.

This incident follows a devastating fire at the Grand Kartal hotel in the Koroglu Mountains of Bolu province earlier this year, which broke out during a school holiday and led to the deaths of 79 people.

Reports from Anadolu indicated that additional arrests related to the Bolu fire have been made, bringing the total number of individuals detained while awaiting trial to 28.