Storm slamming Ireland and UK is ‘a likely danger to life,’ according to official
People walk about in the heavy rain on January 24, 2025 in Scotland, United Kingdom. The Met Office has issued rare red Warnings for wind for Northern Ireland as well as central and southwestern areas of Scotland. These are accompanied by wider Amber and Yellow Warnings for wind, as well as Yellow Warnings for rain and snow across the UK. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — A massive storm is battering parts of the U.K. and Ireland today, bringing devastating winds, heavy rain and snow, according to the Met Office, the United Kingdom’s national weather and climate service.
“This is probably going to be the most consequential wind storm for most people across the island of Ireland and across the U.K. in their lived experience,” Peter Thorne, a climate change professor at Maynooth University in Ireland, told ABC News.
Red warnings for high winds have been issued for Northern Ireland along with central and southwestern areas of Scotland. The storm, named Éowyn, will also impact Northern England, Southern England and Wales, according to officials.
“We reserve the issuing of Red Warnings for the most severe weather which represents a likely danger to life and severe disruption,” according to Met Office Chief Meteorologist Paul Gunderson.
“Storm Éowyn is a multi-hazard event, with snow likely for some, rain for many and strong winds for much of the U.K.,” Gunderson added. “As a result, a number of weather warnings have been issued, with all parts of the U.K. covered by one warning at some point on Friday.”
Wind gusts in excess of 90 mph were recorded in Northern Ireland and parts of Wales early Friday as the storm approached, with record peak gusts of 114 mph recorded in Mace Head, on the west-central Irish coast, according to the Met Office.
The initial forecast was for heavy rain and wind starting early Friday morning in southwestern parts of the U.K., according to the Met Office, traveling northeast across the rest of the country. Along with destructive winds, the storm will bring snow to Northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, but will quickly transition back to rain, the Met Service said.
In Ireland and Scotland, wind gusts were expected to reach up to 80-90 mph, and potentially up to 100 mph for exposed coastal areas, according to Gunderson.
In the U.S., winds of that velocity would be found in a Category 1 or Category 2 hurricane.
“I’ve never seen a red warning cover the entirety of the island,” Thorne told ABC News.
Thorne said that the cold weather system from the U.S. is what’s making Éowyn a major storm.
“At the same time [as the cold weather], you have a North Atlantic that is near a time-of-year record warmth,” Thorne said. “That huge temperature gradient is kicking off a very active jet stream. This particular storm is hitching a ride on the jet stream that supercharges it.”
Thorne told ABC News he expects half a million to a million properties or businesses will be without power after this storm.
“It’s important to note that even those away from the immediate Red Warning areas will still likely see disruptive weather, with travel plans likely to be severely impacted, as well as the possibility of power cuts for some,” according to Gunderson.
The Met Service also notes that although the snow is unlikely to last long, it will change to rain which in turn could cause surface-water flooding in some places. The weather event will likely cause significant challenges and disruption to travel, according to the Met Office, which advises motorists to visit the U.K.’s National Highways website for hazardous weather travel safety tips.
After Éowyn barrels through on Friday and early Saturday, a series of additional storms are expected to arrive in northwest Europe, bringing more wet and windy weather on Sunday and continuing into the beginning of next week, according to the Met Office.
(NEW YORK) — The climate crisis is not a distant threat; it’s happening right now and affecting what matters most to us. Hurricanes intensified by a warming planet and drought-fueled wildfires are destroying our communities. Rising seas and flooding are swallowing our homes. And record-breaking heat waves are reshaping our way of life.
The good news is we know how to turn the tide and avoid the worst possible outcomes. However, understanding what needs to be done can be confusing due to a constant stream of climate updates, scientific findings, and critical decisions that are shaping our future.
That’s why the ABC News Climate and Weather Unit is cutting through the noise by curating what you need to know to keep the people and places you care about safe. We are dedicated to providing clarity amid the chaos, giving you the facts and insights necessary to navigate the climate realities of today — and tomorrow.
UN plastic treaty talks fail to reach an agreement
The world uses a lot of plastic — 460 million metric tons of it are produced each year, according to the United Nations. And the International Union for Conservation of Nature says an estimated 20 million metric tons of plastic end up as trash in our environment.
So when more than 3,300 delegates from 170 countries and 440 organizations met in South Korea at the end of November to hash out an agreement to reduce the production of plastics, environmentalists hoped that something might finally get done to address the problem. It didn’t.
The fifth U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee failed to reach a binding agreement on plastic production and waste for the fifth time since the group began meeting in November 2022.
Nearly 100 countries came to an agreement that would limit plastic production and establish an accountability method ensuring all parties would meet reduction goalposts. Some oil-rich nations pushed back, however, wanting to focus on plastic pollution instead. U.N. rules require a consensus among all delegates for any plan to be binding. That didn’t happen.
“It is clear there is persisting divergence in critical areas and more time is needed for these areas to be addressed,” said Inger Andersen, executive director of the U.N. Environment Program.
Most plastic is not recycled. Instead, it ends up in landfills and pollutes marine bodies like oceans and rivers worldwide. According to an OECD report from 2022, only 9% of plastics worldwide get recycled, and since 1970, 139 metric tons have ended up in our oceans, rivers and lakes. A 2021 study revealed that the plastics industry’s contribution to climate change will exceed coal’s by 2030.
While countries failed to reach an agreement on capping the production of plastic, they did agree to continue talks in 2025.
“As we look ahead to 2025, and navigate what an INC 5.2 could look like, countries must come to the table ready to fight for our future,” said Erin Simon, vice president and head of plastic waste and business at World Wildlife Fund. “The current draft has some of the ingredients for success, but we can’t back down on delivering a legally binding text that finally puts us on a course to eliminate plastic pollution.”
“Let us always remember that our purpose is noble and urgent: to reverse and remedy the severe effects of plastic pollution on ecosystems and human health,” said Luis Vayas Valdivieso, chair of the U.N.’s international plastics negotiating committee.
-ABC News’ Charlotte Slovin
Study identifies heat wave hot spots across the globe
It’s all but certain that 2024 will be Earth’s warmest year on record, surpassing 2023 as the previous record holder. While this troubling milestone measures global average temperatures, a new study from the Columbia Climate School found that unexplained extreme heat wave hot spots are popping up in specific areas worldwide.
Calling it “a striking new phenomenon,” the study’s authors write, “Distinct regions are seeing repeated heat waves that are so extreme, they fall far beyond what any model of global warming can predict or explain.”
According to the study, “The large and unexpected margins by which recent regional-scale extremes have broken earlier records have raised questions about the degree to which climate models can provide adequate estimates of relations between global mean temperature changes and regional climate risks.”
The study identified these hot spots on every continent except Antarctica. Researchers say the heat waves have mostly been a recent phenomenon, occurring primarily over the last five years, although some date back to the early 2000s and before.
Central China, Japan, Korea, the Arabian peninsula, eastern Australia and certain parts of Africa were the hardest-hit areas. The study, however, found that parts of Texas and New Mexico were also impacted, just not as much as the other regions.
“This is about extreme trends that are the outcome of physical interactions we might not completely understand,” said lead author Kai Kornhuber, an adjunct scientist at the Columbia Climate School’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, in a statement. “These regions become temporary hothouses.”
The researchers say it’s unclear what is causing these hot spots. While one study has pointed to wobbles in the jet stream as a possible culprit, the authors say that the hypothesis doesn’t explain all the extremes.
Regardless of the cause, heat is the deadliest weather-related hazard in the United States. The Journal of the American Medical Association found that heat deaths in the U.S. have nearly doubled since 1999 and account for a 63% increase in health-related death rates between 1999-2023.
“Due to their unprecedented nature, these heat waves are usually linked to very severe health impacts, and can be disastrous for agriculture, vegetation and infrastructure,” said Kornhuber. “We’re not built for them, and we might not be able to adapt fast enough.”
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser
How to have a more sustainable Thanksgiving
The amount of food consumed every year at Thanksgiving is actually associated with a large carbon footprint, according to experts.
Although Thanksgiving may be the holiday best known for indulging, there are ways to enjoy your favorite meal of the year while keeping the environment in mind.
“The Thanksgiving meal is more than just the food,” Lauri Wright, director of nutrition programs at the University of South Florida’s College of Public Health, told ABC News. “There’s so much meaning [and] emotions associated with it.”
The average Thanksgiving dinner has a carbon footprint of about 103 pounds of carbon dioxide, according to the Climate Trade, an environmental solutions platform.
Maine joins list of states suing fossil fuel companies over climate change
Maine has become the latest in a growing number of states to sue the fossil fuel industry over the impacts of global warming.
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey accused major fossil fuel companies of deceiving Mainers for decades about the impact their product has on human-amplified climate change.
“For over half a century, these companies chose to fuel profits instead of following their science to prevent what are now likely irreversible, catastrophic climate effects,” Frey said in a statement.
The lawsuit, filed in state court on Tuesday, alleges the defendants knew as early as the 1960s that an increasing use of fossil fuels could potentially bring devastating consequences to Maine. The state argues the companies not only failed to warn residents about the consequences, but knowingly concealed their knowledge about the long-term negative impacts that Maine’s people, environment and economy could face.
The filing states the companies focused on creating public doubt by launching public relations campaigns targeting the science of climate change and the impacts of burning fossil fuels. It is seeking financial compensation for both past and future climate-related damages and for the companies to cease their ongoing deception in Maine.
“They burdened the state and our citizens with the consequences of their greed and deception,” Frey said.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills applauded the attorney general’s actions, saying in a statement that “for decades, big oil companies have made record profits, taking billions out of the pockets of Maine people while deliberately deceiving them about the harmful impacts of fossil fuels — impacts that Maine people see and feel every day.”
Maine joins a growing list of more than 20 states — including California, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Vermont — that have brought similar types of lawsuits to date. Earlier this year, Vermont’s Climate Superfund Act became law, seeking financial accountability for climate change-related damages brought by fossil fuel companies. However, due to stipulations in the law and likely lawsuits, it’s expected to be several years before any potential first charge to fossil fuel companies would be attempted.
-ABC News meteorologist Dan Peck
Soaking rain eases drought in parts of U.S. but dryness still a problem for much of the country
Widespread drought conditions are still a significant concern across the country, with parts of the Northeast, northern Plains and Southwest currently experiencing some of the worst impacts, according to a U.S. Drought Monitor update released Wednesday.
Overall, more than 40% of the contiguous United States remains in a drought. This is an improvement, however, from the beginning of the month when more than half of the lower 48 faced drought conditions. Recent heavy rain along the West Coast and parts of the Midwest brought significant drought relief to portions of Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin and Illinois.
As a result, drought coverage decreased from 45.48% to 41.45% versus last week. While some regions experienced a notable improvement, the recent soaking in the Northeast was only enough to pause the fire danger and trend of intensifying drought conditions — for now.
The current drought situation in the Northeast took months to evolve, and it will take several more rounds of significant rainfall over the span of weeks or even months to completely eliminate the widespread drought in the region.
After a few rounds of beneficial rain, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center says a large part of the country will likely experience below-average precipitation in early December, particularly in the West, Plains and East Coast.
Much of the western Gulf Coast and northern Plains could see above-average rainfall during this period. Drought relief across the country will, at the very least, take a pause through the beginning of next month.
-ABC News meteorologist Dan Peck
Colorado River at a tipping point over drought threat, new study finds
A major water supplier in the West is once again in the spotlight for its unpredictable future.
The Colorado River, the water source for 40 million people across the west, is in a worse state than previously believed, according to a recent study published in Earth’s Future.
Drought and dry conditions, compounded by climate change, put the Colorado River in greater jeopardy, the study’s authors said.
“It doesn’t take a lot of climate change to put the system into a very vulnerable future,” said Dr. Patrick Reed, a civil and environmental engineer at Cornell University and co-author of the study.
Colorado’s West Slope River Basins “are essential water sources for the Colorado River and play a vital role in supporting the state of Colorado’s local economy and natural environment,” according to the study. The West Slope River Basins contribute nearly 70% of the streamflow deliveries to Lake Powell, the nation’s second-largest reservoir.
But drought has significantly depleted Lake Powell’s water supply, leading to the first-ever water shortage in the Upper Colorado River Basin in 2021 and more dependence on the West Slope Basin supply.
“The Colorado River is extremely stressed and overallocated,” Reed said.
The Colorado River supplies water to seven states and Northern Mexico. Agreements about how the water is divided are up for renegotiation in 2026.
-ABC News’ Charlotte Slovin
US fuel economy hits record high as CO2 emissions hit record low, EPA says
U.S. fuel economy reached a record high in 2023 at the same time that greenhouse emissions reached a record low, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s annual Automotive Trends Report released Monday.
The report also states that model year 2023 electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles have reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 11%.
“This report provides a critical data-driven affirmation that strong, technology-neutral standards can underpin environmental progress while saving drivers money at the pump,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement.
New vehicle CO2 emissions are now at a record low of 319 grams per mile, which reduces the impact on climate change. Battery and plug-in hybrid vehicles, combined with fuel cell vehicles, are expected to reach 14.8% of overall vehicle production in 2024, a trend that is expected to grow across the industry, according to the report.
Passenger cars and light trucks accounted for 17% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, underscoring the need for further reductions across the industry, experts said.
— ABC News Climate Unit’s Dan Manzo
In surprise turn, world leaders reach $300B climate cash deal at COP29
In a surprising turn of events, world leaders at the United Nations climate conference in Azerbaijan announced they have reached agreement on a new deal that calls for wealthy countries to contribute $300 billion annually to help developing nations deal with the effects of climate change.
After fears no deal would be reached as talks broke down, the announcement came around 3 a.m. local time and was met with a standing ovation and a wave of relief.
The deal in question was the “climate cash” agreement, under which developed nations will contribute an annual target of $300 billion to help climate-vulnerable, developing countries deal with the consequences of climate change.
President Joe Biden on Saturday praised the agreement, while touting his administration’s work on climate change, saying “nobody” can undo America’s “clean energy revolution,” in an apparent swipe at President-elect Donald Trump.
“Today at COP29, thanks in part to the tireless efforts of a robust US delegation, the world reached agreement on another historic outcome,” Biden said in a statement, going on to say the “ambitious” deal “will help mobilize the level of finance – from all sources – that developing countries need to accelerate the transition to clean, sustainable economies, while opening up new markets for American-made electric vehicles, batteries, and other products.”
Biden, who is leaving office in less than two months, said states and cities will continue to tackle climate change — notably not mentioning the federal government, while adding that no one can overturn progress on the issue, repeating something he said last week while visiting the Amazon.
In a statement, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he had “hoped for a more ambitious outcome” on both financing and climate change mitigation efforts from the conference.
“But this agreement provides a base on which to build,” he said in the statement. “It must be honoured in full and on time. Commitments must quickly become cash. All countries must come together to ensure the top-end of this new goal is met.”
Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan’s minister of ecology and natural resources who served as the COP29 president, said in a statement the $300 billion goal “represents the best possible deal we could reach.”
The U.N. climate conference, known as COP29, was anticipated to be the “finance COP” — the site of negotiations to determine how much fighting the climate crisis would cost and who would pay for it.
In 2015, under the Paris Agreement, participating countries agreed to set climate financing goals in 2024 that would account for the needs of developing countries.
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule, Fritz Farrow and Jack Moore
UN climate conference delegates struggle to reach agreement on financing the climate fight
The U.N. climate conference in Azerbaijan was supposed to be the “finance COP.” World leaders would determine how much fighting the climate crisis would cost and who would pay for it.
However, as COP29 winds down, many developing countries and nongovernmental organizations are dissatisfied with the current language in the proposed climate finance agreement.
In 2015, under the Paris Agreement, participating countries agreed to set a New Collective Quantified Goal, or NCQG, on climate finance in 2024 that would account for the needs of developing countries. Basically, how much money would each nation spend to support developing countries that are being disproportionately impacted by climate?
While several versions of the new NCQG have been proposed, a final agreement is still out of reach. The latest text calls for a $1.3 trillion climate finance investment annually until 2035 but only requires a $250 billion investment from developed countries.
“With a paltry climate finance offer of $250 billion annually, and a deadline to deliver as late as 2035, richer nations, including EU countries, and the United States are dangerously close to betraying the Paris Agreement,” Dr. Rachel Cleetus, policy director for the Climate and Energy Program, Union of Concerned Scientists, said. “This is nowhere near the robust and desperately needed funding lower income nations deserve to combat climate change.”
The latest NCQG language lays out a variety of funding sources that can play a part in reaching global climate finance goals, including multilateral development banks, or MDBs, that can distribute funds through grants and concessional loans for developing countries and adaptation projects.
However, the text does not make clear whether funds from MDBs are part of reaching the $250 billion goal or supplement that goal. It also includes provisions allowing for voluntary contributions from developing countries.
“The central demand coming into COP29 was for a strong, science-aligned climate finance commitment, which this appalling text utterly fails to provide,” Cleetus said. “Wealthier nations seem content to shamefully renege on their responsibility and cave in to fossil fuel interests while unjustly foisting the costs of deadly climate extremes on countries that have contributed the least to the climate crisis.”
World Resources Institute Global Climate, Economics and Finance Program Director Melanie Robinson agrees, releasing a statement Friday saying, “Developed countries should aim higher than the $250 billion they’ve put on the table.”
“We should leave Baku with a goal that at least gets to $300 billion a year by 2035,” Robinson said.
Tasneem Essop, executive director of Climate Action Network International, called the latest draft text “an insult to the people in the Global south.”
“This latest draft text on the New Collective Quantified Goal is not just a joke — it’s an insult to the people in the Global South living on the front line of the climate crisis,” Essop said. “In the meantime, millions of people’s lives are at risk. We are angry, but we will keep fighting until the end.”
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Kelly Livingston and ABC News’ Charlotte Slovin
October was 2nd warmest month on record, NOAA announces
If you thought October was unusually warm, it isn’t your imagination. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports that last month was the second warmest October since the U.S. began keeping records in 1895. It was also the second driest, with less than an inch of rainfall. It should be more than double that.
October was also the second warmest on record globally when looking at land and ocean temperatures. And it was the warmest ever for land temperature alone.
According to the NOAA, there is now a 99% chance that 2024 will be the warmest year on record globally.
This new data continues 2024’s streak of having some of the driest and warmest months on record for states across the U.S.
The heat and high levels of dryness across the country have left 87% of the United States in dry or drought conditions. Widespread drought increases the risk of wildfires, as soil with no moisture burns more easily.
Mark Svoboda, director of the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, calls the combination of heat and dryness a “double whammy.”
New Jersey and Delaware had their driest Octobers on record, and much of the Atlantic Seaboard experienced Octobers with precipitation levels much below average. The region has seen hundreds of wildfires due to these conditions, with New Jersey experiencing a 1,300% increase in fire calls.
In October, much of the United States experienced drought, with dryness expanding and increasing in the Northeast, Great Lakes, Northern Rockies and Plains, Southeast, Deep South, Southwest and the Hawaiian islands.
NOAA says that by February 2025, drought conditions should improve in the Pacific Northwest, Ohio Valley and Western Great Lakes, but are likely to expand and intensify in the Southwest and Atlantic Seaboard.
Despite the destruction they cause, tropical storms can “make or break” drought for the winter, said Svoboda. Without intense rains earlier in the year, there is little or no moisture in the ground come winter.
The dryness impacts wheat crops and livestock forage, potentially increasing food prices. Dryer soil makes wheat crops more vulnerable in colder temperatures because that soil can freeze and kill the plant, decreasing the harvest for the following year.
NOAA also reported that in 2024, 24 different billion-dollar weather and climate disasters impacted the United States through the end of October. This number is only second to last year, with a record 27 individual billion-dollar weather and climate disasters by October.
(SEOUL) — Over 12,000 North Korean troops are estimated to be fighting against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region, deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Dorothy Camille Shea told the United Nations Security Council last week.
Of those dispatched to the region, an estimated 300 North Korean soldiers in Russia have died and over 2,700 have been wounded, according to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service’s closed briefing to the National Assembly on Monday.
North Korean defectors who finished their almost decade-long military service in their 20’s have shared their mixed sentiments and analysis with ABC News.
“So unfortunate, that’s all I can say,” North Korean defector Lee Cheol-eun said with a grimace after watching footage of North Korean soldiers fighting in Kursk, Russia, against the Ukrainian forces.
The 37-year-old served in the Korea People’s Army security department until he escaped the regime in 2016, meaning he knows better than anyone about having to follow orders in a system that one does not believe in.
“They do not know why they have to bleed and lose lives on that battlefield, I feel empty watching them,” Lee said.
“The soldiers dispatched to Russia must be the ones who are best trained about modern warfare and should have received the basic adaptation training upon arrival. The fact that they’ve been pushed into a situation where they have no choice but to die breaks my heart,” Defector Jang Seyul, who served in the North Korean People’s Army’s intelligence agency that focuses on cyber warfare simulations, told ABC News.
The North Korean soldiers on the Kursk frontlines are the infamous “Storm Corps,” according to South Korea’s National Intelligence.
North Korea is estimated to be training at least 40,000 to as many as 80,000 Storm Corps soldiers who spend 13 years serving in the military and cut off from the outside world.
Jang recalled how dominant they were during joint battle drills.
“People would refer to them as murder weapons. They received high-level training that the regular soldiers couldn’t imagine,” said Jang.
Jang says the Storm Corps were provided with slightly larger rations of food and that they are compensated better once they are discharged considering their longer tenure of service and harsh training.
The Storm Corps are not only prepared to be physically stronger but also highly indoctrinated, according to the retired Lieutenant General Chun In-bum of the South Korean Army, referring to them as “an elite force that is one grade above the average North Korean unit.”
However, in spite of their reputation, the Storm Corps soldiers in North Korea have been seen flailing helplessly under Ukrainian drone attacks, according to footage provided by Ukrainian forces.
Seoul’s intelligence service briefed lawmakers in a closed-door briefing on Monday, saying the main reason for mass casualties is due to the North Korean soldiers’ lack of understanding in modern warfare, such as drone target shots and charging without rear fire support.
General Chun In-bum said that it may be too early to determine if the North Korean soldiers were insufficiently trained, explaining that drone warfare is new to everyone on the frontlines.
“The North Koreans will be unaccustomed to the flatlands and the Ukrainian front, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not going to be adapting, especially if they are experiencing high casualties. It’s a great motivator when you see that your life is on the line,” Chun told ABC News.
Seoul speculates that North Korea may dispatch more troops in the near future. Chun believes the same.
“So even for just rotational purposes, I think there is a high probability that more soldiers will be deployed there. Whatever the situation is, the relationship between Putin and Kim Jong Un is going to solidify and, to a degree, I’m sure the Russian people are going to appreciate that the North Koreans are sending soldiers at a moment when they are in a very difficult situation,” General Chun said.
The dispatch of North Korean soldiers’ to Russia is still an open secret within the secluded regime which has limited access to news from the outside world. Defectors and experts on North Korea in Seoul having different opinions about how the North Korean public will react once they are aware.
General Chun assumes that for the family members of the deceased North Korean soldiers, the regime will compensate them with all the benefits possible in hopes they will come to appreciate their sons’ sacrifice for their country.
But Jang, on the other hand, sees the North Korean people as less loyal than the generation before them, suggesting the regime would have to put in greater effort into explaining the soldiers’ deaths.
“Average North Korean people are unaware of the dispatch. But people who secretly communicate with the outside world, and those who listen to the propaganda broadcasting signals sent from the South probably know what is going on,” Lee told ABC News. “I hope the survivors of the Russia dispatch will return home and inform others of the injustice of the North Korean system based on their experience abroad.”
(LONDON and ISTANBUL) — A predawn fire at a hotel in the Kartalkaya Ski Resort in Turkey killed at least 76, with another 51 injured, Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Tuesday.
“We are in deep pain,” Yerlikaya told reporters during a press conference.
The fire ignited after 3 a.m. on Tuesday at the Grand Kartal, a hotel at the resort in Northwestern Turkey.
A city official told ABC News that after the fire broke out in the middle of the night, around 3:27 a.m. local time, most of the victims, including children, appeared to have lost life due to suffocation.
There were 238 registered guests in the 12-story hotel at the time of the fire, according to the interior minister.
The fire department had not reported a negative situation regarding the fire adequacy of the hotel until Tuesday, Yerlikaya said, adding that an investigation is ongoing.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said an administrative and criminal investigation is underway.
“All necessary steps will be taken and are being taken to shed light on all aspects of the incident and to hold those responsible accountable,” he said.
ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian contributed to this report.
