In a remarkable display of bravery, Fatih Güller, a retired gymnastics coach from Ankara, risked his life to save 11 people, including his niece, her husband and their two children, from a devastating hotel fire in Kartalkaya, in the Bolu province in northwestern Türkiye. The courageous rescue, which unfolded in the early hours of the morning, involved Güller using bedsheets to create a makeshift escape route for his family and others trapped inside the Grand Kartal Hotel.
The 67-year-old coach, who spent 42 years working at Ankara University before retiring, had been invited to Kartalkaya for a holiday by his niece, Gülşen Doğan Durdağ, as a special birthday gift. Güller, accompanied by his wife and children, joined his niece’s family at the hotel for a relaxing getaway. However, their holiday took a life-threatening turn when a fire broke out at the hotel one night while they were staying on the 10th floor.
According to Güller, the night began like any other, but everything changed when he was suddenly awakened by the sounds of fire alarms and the acrid smell of smoke. “We heard a voice saying, ‘The hotel is on fire, get out!’ We were in room 1020 on the 10th floor. My niece, her husband and their young child were in one part of the room, while my nephew’s older son and I were in the other,” he explained.
Panic quickly set in as the thick smoke rapidly spread through the hotel. Despite the danger, Güller remained calm and took immediate action. He instructed everyone to leave everything behind and evacuate the room as quickly as possible. “I told everyone not to take anything with them. We left as we were. I was able to grab my glasses and phone,” Güller recalled. The family initially tried to descend the building using the staircase, but the smoke became too thick to move further.
With limited options, Güller acted quickly to secure his family’s safety. He entered a room that overlooked the hotel’s side and, in an act of quick thinking, tied bedsheets together to create an emergency escape route. As smoke continued to engulf the building, Güller helped his family and others climb down the makeshift sheet rope. “We tied the sheets together and first helped the children down, then the women,” Güller said. The coach’s decision to act swiftly and with determination likely saved the lives of those trapped with him.
The escape, however, was not without its challenges. Güller’s niece, Gülşen Doğan Durdağ, was injured after part of the sheet tore as she was descending. She fell and sustained broken bones in her spine and arm. Despite her injury, Güller insisted on ensuring the safety of his family members. “I told my niece Gülşen to go first, and I’d bring down her child afterward. She replied, ‘I won’t go until my child is safe,’” he shared.
As Güller helped his niece’s family, the smoke continued to fill the corridors, making it harder to breathe and see. At one point, he saw a glimmer of light through the smoke and shouted, “Follow my voice!” guiding others toward safety. As he descended last, he tied the sheet securely to a window frame and began his descent. When he reached the ground, a child, about 5 or 6 years old, ran up to him, hugging him tightly and calling him “uncle.”
Güller’s efforts did not go unnoticed. “I clearly remember saving 11 people in total. Later, some people called to thank me. A man from Trabzon saved my contact as ‘Yangındaş’ (Fire Companion) and called me,” he said. Despite the trauma of the event, Güller insisted that what he did wasn’t heroism.
“What I did wasn’t heroism. Many people acted like I did. A lot of people helped me there,” he explained humbly.
However, Güller did note a crucial issue that may have contributed to the severity of the fire: the lack of a functioning fire alarm system. “The fire alarm did not go off. I didn’t see the fire exit. I don’t know if there was one or not. There were no warning signs, no emergency exit – we saw nothing,” he said. He believes that had the alarm gone off and the fire been detected sooner, many more lives could have been saved.
A devastating fire broke out early on Jan. 21 at the 11-story Grand Kartal Hotel, located in the Kartalkaya Ski Resort in Bolu, the fire tragically claimed the lives of 76 people and left 51 others injured.
