A tragic fire swept through the Grand Kartal Hotel in Turkey’s Bolu mountains early Tuesday, claiming 76 lives and injuring dozens more. The blaze erupted around 3:30 a.m. (0030 GMT) on the restaurant floor of the 12-story hotel, located at the Kartalkaya ski resort. Panicked guests, trapped by flames and smoke, were forced to jump from windows in a desperate bid to escape.

Eyewitnesses described the scene as apocalyptic. "The flames engulfed the hotel immediately, like in half an hour," said Mevlut Ozer, a witness to the disaster.

Some guests attempted to escape by tying bed sheets together and climbing down from upper-floor windows. Tragically, these makeshift ropes failed in some instances. "One friend jumped from the 11th floor—may God have mercy on him," said Omer Sakrak, an employee of a nearby hotel. "A father was yelling about his one-year-old child, saying, 'I will throw my child or he will burn.'"

The fire left the hotel’s wood-fronted structure charred, with smoke continuing to rise from the ruins well into the afternoon. Several fire engines and ambulances surrounded the site, while white sheets dangled from windows as a grim testament to the desperate escapes.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya confirmed that 238 guests were staying at the hotel at the time of the fire. Survivors reported fleeing through smoke-filled corridors, alarmed by the lack of fire alarms.

President Tayyip Erdogan declared Wednesday a national day of mourning, expressing his condolences to the victims' families. Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire as questions mount over the hotel's safety measures.