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Hotel Fire Kills Olympic Skier in Turkey

Originally posted on Powder | By Ian Greenwood | Last updated Mar 27, 2025 1:07 PM ET

A fire at a closed ski resort hotel in northwest Turkey on Thursday, March 27, 2025 killed an Olympic skier and his father, only months after a similar incident killed more than 70 people at another Turkish ski hotel, according to several news reports.

According to the FIS, the 25-year-old son, Berkin Usta, competed in slalom and giant slalom at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games while representing Turkey. In slalom, he didn’t finish. In giant slalom, he placed 43rd. Berkin’s last recorded race, an FIS slalom in Zagreb-Sljeme, Croatia, was in 2023.

Berkin’s father, Yahya, was the president of the Turkish Ski and Snowboard Teachers Association, the Associated Press reports.

“I learned with deep sorrow that our national athlete Berkin Usta and his father Yahya Usta lost their lives in the fire that broke out in the hotel,” Sports Minister Osman Askin Bak said, according to the Associated Press.

Photo: Mehmet Emin Gurbuz/Anadolu via Getty Images

Yahya, his son, and his wife were staying on the fifth floor of the Kervansaray Hotel in Uludag, Bursa province when the fire broke out. His wife survived the blaze.

The fire began in the hotel’s cafeteria area, authorities said, according to the Associated Press. It was contained within two hours.

While the hotel was closed, there were 12 employees present at 5:30 a.m. when the fire began. Authorities haven’t clarified if Yahya and his family were employees or why they were staying at the hotel. After the blaze, several people who inhaled smoke were hospitalized, the Associated Press reports.

The hotel closed in January after its operating permits were canceled.

An investigation by prosecutors into the cause of the fire is underway. The hotel’s manager has been detained, according to the Anadolu Agency, a state-run Turkish newsgroup.

The deaths of Berkin and Yayha Usta follows another fire at a ski resort hotel—the Grand Kartal in Turkey’s Koroglu mountains—which killed more than 70 people in January. The Grand Kartal fire was also said to have started in the cafeteria.

After new arrests on Wednesday connected to the Grand Kartal fire, 28 people were being held in detention as they awaited trial, the Associated Press reports.