A British couple who were left trapped on a balcony after a fire broke out at a five-star hotel in Marmaris, Turkey, said they feared they would die as thick smoke filled their top-floor room and they waited about three hours to be rescued.
Cherie James, 57, of Blackwood in Caerphilly, and her husband Sean were asleep when other guests began shouting "fire" and their room quickly filled with black smoke, Cherie said. With no working alarms, no sprinklers activating and no safe route down five floors, the couple moved onto the balcony to breathe and later said they held one another and said their goodbyes.
The Jameses were on holiday with package operator TUI when the blaze took hold at the Grand Yazici Marmaris Club Palace earlier this year, according to a company statement. The couple said they were later flown home early by TUI and received a refund. Cherie said she has not received answers about where the fire started and how it spread.
"Me and my husband were saying our goodbyes to each other, certain we were going to die, and that will haunt me forever," Cherie said. She said the experience has left her suffering post-traumatic stress disorder and that she is receiving counselling offered by TUI. She also sought medical attention after a burn became septic.
Cherie called on holiday companies to ensure all hotels offered to British tourists are compliant with fire-safety regulations and regularly checked. "In the UK, all hotels have fire alarms which are tested regularly," she said. "Overseas, clearly it is different. When I tell people what happened to us, they say 'It's because it's Turkey' — but we booked with TUI, so why aren't they checking to make sure fire safety measures are taken and that they're working?"
TUI issued an apology after the incident, saying in a statement that it was sorry for customers whose holidays were affected "following a contained fire at the Grand Yazici Marmaris Club Palace in Turkey earlier this year." The operator said its team worked with local authorities and supported customers on the ground, arranging alternative accommodation and flights home, and that "their safety is our most important priority."
Local authorities and hotel staff carried out evacuations and emergency responses at the scene, and the company said it offered help to customers. The Jameses declined to detail the exact sequence of the evacuation beyond the period they spent on the balcony but said they had found no functioning fire detection or suppression in their room when the blaze began.
The Marmaris incident follows other holiday-hotel fires this year that prompted rapid evacuations. In Majorca on Aug. 29, firefighters were mobilised after a blaze in the elevator machine room at the Bellevue Bonita and Club Resort in Puerto de Alcudia, where initial reports said nearly 20 people required treatment for smoke inhalation and several guests were briefly trapped in lifts before being freed. Local emergency services said the alarm at that four-star complex sounded just after 9 a.m. and the establishment was evacuated.
The two episodes underline concerns among some travellers about fire safety standards at overseas resorts. The Jameses, who have two adult children, said they hoped their account would prompt greater oversight of safety systems in hotels marketed by large tour operators.
TUI said it is continuing to work with local authorities and the hotel to understand the incident and to support affected customers. Turkish authorities have investigated the Marmaris fire; details about the cause and any formal findings have not been disclosed publicly by the family or the operator at the time of publication.