Resort move after family escapes fire

A FAMILY who escaped a fire at their Turkish holiday resort have been given alternative accommodation.

FIRE SCARE: Maxine Reeves and Mark Preston with their children Christian and Emily.

Maxine Reeves, partner Mark Preston and their two children had to dash to safety after the blaze at the Anastacia Club resort hotel in the popular tourist area of Marmaris on Monday night.

But the family have now been moved to another hotel to complete the remainder of their two-week holiday.

Maxine, Mark, aged 35, and children Christian, aged 11, and nine-year-old Emily have all now settled in to the five-star Hotel Aqua, in Icmeler, several miles further along the coast.

They had already been moved around several other hotels after the blaze.

The family are due to return to their Tunstall home on Sunday.

Maxine, aged 34, said: "We are not particularly happy with the area that we are in because it is so far away from Marmaris. But the room is out of this world."

The family were part way through their break on Monday night when they heard the sound of smashing glass and the hotel was evacuated.

Yesterday, Maxine told The Sentinel of her shock at how close they came to being caught in the fire, which started as they were getting ready for bed.

They were alerted to the blaze when they heard the commotion of staff beginning to evacuate the hotel.

People fought through smoke and over the glass from smashed fire doors as they made their way out, Maxine said.

Seven Britons were injured by broken glass as they left the building.

Two of them were Maxine and Christian, who received hospital treatment and were later discharged.

They suffered cuts to their feet from glass from the fire exit and the family have now been given medication to rid any smoke from their lungs.

On the evening of the fire, they had taken Mark's parents Linda and Rob Preston, who stayed in a different hotel, to the airport.

Linda, of Victoria Park Road, Tunstall, who celebrated her 60th birthday on the trip, said: "I got a text message when we were at the airport from Maxine telling me what had happened. It was a brilliant holiday up until that point. The kids love it in Turkey and they go there every time they go away."

An investigation has been launched into the cause of the blaze, but it has been reported as having started when a boiler in the hotel's sauna exploded.

Story filed in: Holidays from hell |