Dozens of people were killed after a fire ripped through a ski resort hotel in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday, forcing desperate holidaymakers to leap from windows to escape from the flames and smoke.

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.

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.

In the aftermath of the incident, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a day of national mourning to be observed on Wednesday. Rescue teams and local authorities are investigating the cause of the fire,

The cause of the fire was not immediately known. Local media suggested that the wooden cladding on the hotel's exterior may have accelerated the spread of the fire. View on euronews

Witnesses have described standing helplessly and paralyzed by the horror of people screaming for help or jumping out of windows as flames tore through a 12-story hotel at a popular ski resort

Turkey has detained nine people, including the owner of the hotel, in connection with a deadly fire that claimed the lives of 76 people and injured dozens at a ski resort in western Turkey, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said early Wednesday.

A fire that erupted in ski resort in Turkey's Bolu mountains killed at least 66 people, the cause of the fire is under investigation.