Olympic skating Birkin Austa and his father were killed on Thursday morning in a fire in a ski resort that was closed to the general public in Türkiye.
Austa, 25, represented Türkiye in the 2022 Olympics.
His father, Yahya Austa, was the head of the Turkish Teachers Association for skiing and skiing.
“I learned deeply that our national athletes Perkin Austa and his father Yahya Austa lost their lives in the fire that broke out at the hotel,” said Sports Minister Othman Askin Buck, according to Associated Press.
Ustas-including Birkin's mother-resided in the second highest level of the hotel at the time of the fire.
Birkin's mother survived.
The KervanSaray Hotel, located on top of a famous ski destination, is about three hours outside Istanbul
The office of the Governor of Borsa County said that 12 employees came.
It is not clear why the USTAS was staying in the hotel or if any family member is part of the employees since its closure.
Local authorities have told that many people are in the hospital due to smoke inhalation.
Government officials said that the fire started in the cafeteria at 5:30 am.
Anadolu, which is later, said that the hotel manager had been arrested.
The hotel was closed in January when the residence permit was canceled.
According to the firefighting crews, the fire crews had fire in two hours, but the upper floors were severely damaged by that point.
“We had a search for this hotel in January. We identified the shortcomings and shared them with relevant institutions,” said the mayor of Porsa Mustafa Bouzbi, according to TMZ. “There was information that the hotel is closed. The reason for the presence of 12 people is investigating. If this is negligence, it must be detected.”
The different ski resort in Türkiye, the Grand Kartal Hotel, was fire, earlier this year and killed 79 people.
