As flames tore through a 12-story hotel at a popular ski resort in northwestern Turkey, friends Esra Karakisa and Halime Cetin stood helpless as the horror unfolded before them, with people leaning out of smoke-filled rooms pleading for help and others making the harrowing decision to jump.

Among the detainees are Bolu municipality's deputy mayor responsible for the fire department, the fire chief, and the owner and the manager of the hotel.