The Albany Gazette - Toll in Turkey ski resort fire climbs to 66

Witnesses said desperate guests had tried to escape using ropes, footage showed bedsheets hanging from the windows, and media reports suggest some had died after trying to jump to safety.

Several ministers have arrived at the scene at the Kartalkaya resort around 170 kilometres (100 miles) northwest of the capital Ankara, and officials said the fire had now been contained.

"Our pain is great," Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told reporters at Kartalkaya. "66 citizens lost their lives and 51 others wounded."

The blaze broke out at 3:27 am (0027 GMT) in the 12-storey Grand Kartal hotel, which has wooden cladding, he said.

Some 238 guests were registered as staying at the hotel, the minister added, a peak time during a two-week school holiday.

Private NTV broadcaster said the dead included three people who had jumped from the hotel's windows.

The fire is believed to have started in the restaurant and spread quickly, though it was not immediately clear what caused it.

Part of the structure backs onto a cliff, making it harder for firefighters to tackle the blaze.

-'I heard screams'-

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cut short an address to his ruling AKP party congress in Ankara, saying: "Our pain is great, our heartache is great."

He said administrative and judicial investigations have been launched into the cause of the fire.

"All necessary steps will be taken to shed light on all aspects of the incident and to hold those responsible accountable," he promised.

Television footage showed huge plumes of smoke rising into the sky with a snowcapped mountain behind the hotel.

"I heard screams around midnight, (hotel) residents were shouting for help," Baris Salgur, who works at a nearby hotel, told NTV television.

"They asked for a blanket, saying they will jump. We did what we could, we brought rope, pillows, we brought a sofa. Some people threw themselves once the flames approached them."

- 'No safety'-

Footage showed the wrecked lobby of the hotel with shards of glass on the floor, the reception desk and the wooden furniture inside charred black.

Authorities warned the building could collapse.

A survivor who managed to escape the flames told local media that no alarms rang at the hotel when the fire started, complaining about the lack of any safety measures including fire stairs or smoke detectors.

Tourism Minister Nuri Ersoy said the hotel had two fire escapes.

Footage revealed hotel sheets hanging from the hotel's windows indicating some tied them in order to escape the blaze.

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said six prosecutors had been allocated to investigate the blaze.

Those evacuated were rehoused in nearby hotels.

(Y.Harris--TAG)