At least 66 people were killed and 51 injured as a fire ripped through a ski resort hotel in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday, according to the country’s interior ministry.

A fire at a 12-story hotel at a popular ski resort in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday killed at least 66 people, Turkey’s Interior Minister said.

Ali Yerlikaya said at least 51 other people were injured in the disaster that struck the Grand Kartal hotel in the resort of Kartalkaya, in Bolu province’s Koroglu mountains, some 300 kilometers (185 miles) east of Istanbul. The fire occurred during the schools' semester break, when hotels in the region are packed.

At least 76 people have been killed and 51 injured in a devastating fire that broke out at the Grand Kartal Hotel in northwestern Turkey's Kartalkaya ski resort, with many victims reportedly jumping from the building to escape the flames.

The death toll from a fire that raged through a hotel at a ski resort in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday has risen to 76, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.

Turkey has detained nine people, including the owner of the hotel, in connection with a deadly fire that claimed the lives of 76 people and injured dozens at a ski resort in western Turkey, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said early Wednesday.

A fire that erupted in ski resort in Turkey's Bolu mountains killed at least 66 people, the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Tuesday's fire at the Grand Kartal Hotel in Kartalkaya left at least 79 people dead and 51 injured, happening during a particularly busy season.