2017 Batumi hotel fire

The fire in the 22-storey five-star hotel broke out at around 20:00 local time. Thirteen rescue and firefighting vehicles and approximately 100 firefighters were deployed and more than 100 people were evacuated.[1] Eleven people, ten Georgian nationals and one Iranian national, died, all from inhaling fumes. Eight of the victims were found trapped in an elevator, one in a swimming pool, and two were discovered in the hotel gym.[2] Twenty-one people were hospitalized.[3] The hotel was due to host the Miss Georgia beauty pageant. None of the 20 contestants were injured.[4]

Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili vowed to punish and identify all those that were responsible for the fire, with Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia backing his calls for an investigation into the breach of fire-safety norms.[2]

Police said an investigation into possible breaches of fire safety regulations was launched.[5][6] In 2018 the Georgian Prosecutor's Office requested the detention of a Turkish citizen who was the technical manager of the hotel, and a Georgian citizen who was a staff manager of the technical storage team.[7] Investigators determined that easily inflammable materials which had been placed in the technical storage room helped intensify the fire and caused strong smoke. The hotel was also not equipped with automatic fire and smoke alarm systems.[7] The two detained men, the Turkish manager and the Georgian storage staff member, were sentenced by the Batumi City Court to five years and six months and two years in prison, respectively.[8]

After the incident, the hotel rebranded itself as Welmond.[8]