It became the symbol of the fire: Here is the story of the bedsheet at the Grand Hotel

The fire that broke out at the Grand Kartal Hotel at the Kartalkaya Ski Center in Bolu resulted in the loss of 78 lives, and the tragic stories left behind by the disaster have broken everyone's hearts.

That night, some people trapped in the flames fought tooth and nail to save the lives of others. One of them was retired gymnastics coach Fatih Güller. When the fire broke out at the hotel where he was staying with his children, Güller managed to save 11 people by tying bedsheets together.

HE RECOUNTED THE TERRIFYING MOMENTS

Fatih Güller, a gymnastics coach who retired after working for 42 years at Ankara University, had been invited to Kartalkaya for the semester break by his niece, Gülşen Doğan Durdağ, along with his wife and two children.

The family, who had been staying at the hotel for one night, woke up to the fire in the morning hours. Güller, who was staying on the 10th floor during the fire, woke up to the sounds, immediately woke his niece and her family, and tried to reach the hallway quickly.

''SMOKE HAD ENVELOPED EVERYTHING''

Güller left the room after grabbing his glasses and phone when they realized there was a fire. When they reached the hallway, they encountered thick smoke. They were able to go down one more floor, but it became impossible to proceed because the smoke had enveloped everything.

''SMOKE HAD ENVELOPED EVERYTHING''

Güller left the room after grabbing his glasses and phone when they realized there was a fire. When they reached the hallway, they encountered thick smoke. They were able to go down one more floor, but it became impossible to proceed because the smoke had enveloped everything.

Fatih Güller explained that he was among the last people to descend using the bedsheet and that he lowered himself at the last minute by wedging the sheet into the outer part of the window.

He said that when they got down, a child hugged him, calling him “father, uncle,” and that he felt God gave him strength at that moment. Stating that he did not know the 11 people he saved from the fire, Güller expressed that he encouraged people by saying, "If we stay calm, we will all be saved; if we don't stay calm, we will all remain here."

THERE WAS NO ALARM IN THE FIRE

Pointing to the failure of the alarm system and the lack of smoke detection as the biggest problems of the fire, Güller said, “If the alarm had gone off, many lives could have been saved.” He stated that he did not even see the fire escape and that the hotel's warning signs were insufficient.

Fatih Güller said, “What I did is not heroism. Many people there acted like me. There were many people who helped me. I ran out of tears from hugging those people. It is impossible to describe the scale of this pain with words.”

Explaining that he received thank-you calls from many of the people whose lives he saved in the fire, Güller noted that one of them, Mr. Ömer from Trabzon, saved him in his phone contacts as "Fire-mate."