ANKARA - Outrage over alleged safety failures at a 12-storey hotel in Turkey has escalated into a political clash between the government and the opposition-run local authorities, after a fire killed 79 people and injured more than 50.

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.

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.