In the hotel fire, by tying the sheets together, they saved 11 people

In Ankara, 67-year-old retired gymnastics coach Fatih Güller saved 11 people in a hotel fire at Kartalkaya, where he had gone for a holiday with his niece, her husband, and two children. He tied sheets together to help them escape.

Fatih Güller, who worked for 42 years at Ankara University, was invited to Kartalkaya for a winter holiday by his niece Gülşen Doğan Durdağ as a birthday gift. The next day, Güller, his niece, her husband Emre Durdağ, and their children Ali Ege Durdağ and Eren Durdağ went to the Grand Kartal Hotel. That same night, a fire broke out in the hotel. Güller, who was on the 10th floor, woke up to the sounds of the fire and woke up his niece and her family. They went out into the corridor and descended to the 8th floor, but due to the heavy smoke, they couldn’t go further. Fatih Güller then entered a room facing the other side of the hotel, tied the sheets together, and saved 11 people, including his niece and her family. Unfortunately, part of the sheet tore, and his niece Gülşen fell and got injured.

"THE SMOKE FILLED EVERYTHING"

Güller, who is currently waiting in the hospital for his niece’s recovery, spoke to DHA: "I woke up from the noise, smelled the smoke, but couldn’t believe it was really a fire. We heard someone shouting: 'The hotel is on fire, get out!' We were in room 1020 on the 10th floor, a suite with two rooms. My niece, her husband, and the baby were in one room, and we were with her older son in the other room. I said: 'Don’t take anything with you,' and we just ran out. The only things I managed to take were my glasses and phone. When we went out into the corridor, we were met with terrible smoke. We descended one floor, but it was impossible to go further because the smoke had filled everything."

"FOLLOW MY VOICE"

Güller described seeing a faint light in the corridor on the 8th floor and directed the others toward it: "I shouted to people, 'Follow my voice.' When we broke the window, we were able to breathe a little. I realized we were being poisoned. People kept asking what was happening. I said, 'Everyone wake up, there’s a fire in the hotel, we’ll suffocate!' I asked everyone to bring me their blankets and sheets, and I would tie them, and we would descend that way. It was an unimaginable experience. We tied the sheets together, first lowered the children, then the women. I wrapped the sheet around my arm because there was nowhere to tie it. Only 4 of us were left. I told my niece: 'You go down, I will bring your child down afterward.' She replied, 'I won’t go down until my child is safe.' After she lowered the child, the sheet broke just before my niece could descend, and she fell, breaking her back and arm."

"LAST, I WENT DOWN MYSELF"

Güller also shared that he descended last: "I made a knot at the end of the sheet, hooked it onto the window hinge outside, and descended. After the sheet broke, others brought a ladder, and I went down the rest of the way using the ladder. When I reached the ground, a 5-6-year-old child hugged me, saying, 'Dad, uncle.' I felt a strength from God. I told the others, 'If we stay calm, we’ll all be saved, if not, we’ll all stay here.' I distinctly remember saving 11 people. Later, I received calls from people thanking me, like Ömer from Trabzon, who saved me.

"IF THE ALARM HAD GONE OFF, MANY LIVES WOULD HAVE BEEN SAVED"

Güller, who pointed out that the alarm did not go off during the fire, said, "I didn’t see the fire escape. I don’t know if there was one or not. We didn’t see any warning signs or emergency exits. I believe that if the alarm had gone off and even a small amount of smoke had been detected, many lives could have been saved. What I did wasn’t heroism or anything. Many people behaved just like I did there. There were many people who helped me. I can’t express in words the scale of the pain we experienced. I cried so much that there were no more tears left in my eyes. I couldn’t stop crying and hugging those people, I had no tears left."

Fatih Güller also stated that his niece had undergone surgery and that her condition was improving.