ANKARA, Turkey, Jan 21, (AP): A fire broke out at a hotel at a ski resort in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday, killing at least at least 10 people and hospitalizing 32 others, officials said. The fire broke out overnight at the hotel's restaurant in the resort of Kartalkaya in Bolu province, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. Two of the victims died after jumping out of the building in a panic, Gov Abdulaziz Aydin told the state-run Anadolu Agency.

Private NTV television said some people tried to climb down from their rooms using sheets. There were 234 guests staying at the hotel, Aydin said. Necmi Kepcetutan, a ski instructor at the hotel, said he was asleep when the fire erupted and he rushed out of the building. He told NTV television that he then helped some 20 guests out of the hotel.

He said the hotel was engulfed in smoke, making it difficult for guests to locate the fire escape. "I cannot reach some of my students. I hope they are OK,” the ski instructor told the station. Television images showed the roof and top floors of the hotel on fire. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. NTV television suggested that the wooden cladding on the hotel's exterior may have accelerated the spread of the fire.

Kartalkaya is a popular ski resort in the Koroglu mountains, some 300 kilometers (186 miles) east of Istanbul. The fire occurred during the school semester break when hotels in the region are packed. Aydin's office said 30 fire trucks and 28 ambulances were sent to the site. Other hotels at the resort were evacuated as a precaution.