ANKARA, Turkey — A search and rescue operation was underway in central Turkey on Friday after a four-story building collapsed, trapping at least five people inside, officials said.

Turkey has detained nine people as part of an investigation into a fire that killed 76 people and injured dozens at a ski resort in the Bolu mountains, authorities said.

More than 50,000 Syrian refugees have left Turkey to return home since Bashar al-Assad's ouster. "Now he's gone, many are willing to return but the Syria they left is not the same place," he told AFP.

ANKARA — As the death toll from an overnight fire at a popular ski resort in northwest Turkey rises to 76, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that the country will observe a day of national mourning on Wednesday.

The government appointed six prosecutors to lead an investigation into the blaze, which is believed to have started in the hotel's restaurant section.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will visit Iraq on Sunday for talks with officials on the fight against Kurdish militants, security issues and bilateral ties, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Saturday.

Witnesses say guests at a ski resort hotel in Turkey tried to escape a deadly fire with ropes and sheets hung from windows.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan expressed Ankara's hopes to improve relations with the U.S. under President Donald Trump's administration. Speaking in a news conference, Fidan stated expectations to address unresolved issues from the previous U.

Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM Party said it will send a delegation to meet Abdullah Ocalan, head of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), in jail on Wednesday for a second time as part of a political effort to end a decades-long conflict.

A fire at a 12-story hotel at a popular ski resort in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday killed at least 66 people, Turkey’s Interior Minister said.

Officials in Turkey say that a fire has raged through a 12-story hotel at a popular ski resort in the northwestern part of the country during a school holiday, killing at least 76 people

A fire raged through a 12-story hotel at a popular ski resort in northwestern Turkey early Tuesday during a school holiday, killing at least 76 people — at least two of them when they jumped from the building to escape the flames,