A PREGNANT British tourist has spoken of her terror after being forced to escape a fatal blaze at a hotel in Alanya.
Sarah Larkin, 27, her boyfriend Mark Kershaw and her two children aged five and three had to flee from their apartment at the Eftalia Marin-hotel in Alanya in the early hours as the blaze took hold in the apartment underneath
They say the smoke alarms failed to activate and they were only alerted by the cries of hotel workers and guests.
One man, a Turkish national, died in the incident. Sarah, from Spotland, Rochdale, told the Manchester Evening News: “I woke up and heard banging and a man shouting. I thought it was some sort of argument. I was listening to a man screaming and shouting and glass smashing.
Fatal fire at Eftalia Marin-hotel in Alanya, Turkey
“I went into the bathroom and there was smoke coming through the vent. There were sprinklers and fire alarms fitted, but they didn’t go off. I just opened my door and saw people running, there was a man shouting ‘fire’, ‘fire’.”
She added: “There wasn’t anyone trying to wake us up and no-one stopping people from running back into the building. The fire was directly below us. It was a free for all.”
Sarah who is 25 weeks pregnant and her boyfriend each threw a child over their shoulder and fled from the tower block when the fire caught hold on June 2.
But once outside, Mark decided to return to the building to collect their passports and was met with flames.
He turned back and had to be given oxygen by paramedics. Sarah said: “What’s upsetting me the most is I heard them all downstairs screaming and banging,”
The family remained outside until around 9am. They were offered a new room to wait in until 2pm, but were then asked to leave despite not getting picked up for several more hours as new guests were due to arrive.
The family have now returned home. Sarah said: “I kept saying to my rep, why didn’t any smoke alarms go off?
“You only have to light up a cigarette over here and the smoke alarms go off.”
Thomas Cook confirmed that a person lost their life in the fire, but all of their UK holidaymakers were safe.
A spokesperson for Thomas Cook said: “Thomas Cook takes the welfare and safety of all our customers extremely seriously. We can confirm that there was a fire at the SunConnect Eftalia Marin hotel in Alanya, Turkey.
“The fire started on the second floor of the hotel at approximately 4.30am on 2 June 2016.
“All Thomas Cook customers were safe and accounted for and our team in resort immediately went to the hotel to help with any individual customers needs or concerns.
“We are very sorry that Mr Kershaw and his wife had this experience while on holiday and we are contacting him and his family to offer our full support. We will be staying in touch with him for as long as he needs our care.”