As flames tore through a 12-story hotel at a popular ski resort in northwestern Turkey, friends Esra Karakisa and Halime Cetin watched helplessly as the horror unfolded before them. Some people were leaning out of smoke-filled rooms pleading for help,

Some had returned to the hotel year after year. Their deaths — amid dozens of others at the hotel — have stirred grief and outrage.

The regional mayor detained after a fire at a ski-resort killed 76 guests in Turkey's Bolu province claims the accusations against him are false.