Guwahati: For the past three days, several parts of Turkey has been engulfed in raging flames, not just destroying forest covers but also destroying people’s homes and leaving animals in danger as well. As fires continue, social media is flooded with heartbreaking videos capturing the calamity.
The forest fires first started on Wednesday in the southern provinces of Mersin, Osmaniye, Adana, Antalya, and Kahramanmaraş. Blazes also broke out in the southwestern province of Muğla and central provinces of Kırıkkale and Kayseri, Daily Sabah reported. Of the 98 fires that have broken out in numerous provinces since Wednesday, 88 are under control, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Bekir Pakdemirli said.
Earlier Pakdemirli said that 4,000 personnel, six planes, nine unmanned aerial vehicles, one unmanned helicopter, 45 helicopters, 55 heavy duty vehicles, and 1,080 water tenders are together making efforts to tame the flames. While in some places, people could be evacuated in time, six people have lost their lives so far in the fires that also caused material and environmental damage in southern regions, Turkey’s Anadolu Agency added.
Two more people died on Sunday due to wildfires in the southern town of Manavgat, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said, adding that 10 others were receiving treatment in hospital in the area.
Most of the more than 100 blazes that erupted in Turkey in the last five days have been contained, authorities said. However, fires were still blazing in Manavgat and in Marmaris and the inland town of Milas, Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said, prompting the evacuation of some residential areas and hotels.
Since Wednesday, thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes. Locals, as well as support teams from Russia, Ukraine, Iran and Azerbaijan, were deployed to help firefighters. The Turkish government pledged to rebuild damaged homes and compensate for losses in areas affected by the fires.
Pakdemirli said at least 13 planes, 45 helicopters, drones, and 828 fire-fighting vehicles were involved in firefighting efforts.
The EU said it had helped mobilise three fire-fighting planes on Sunday, one from Croatia and two from Spain, after Turkey activated a disaster response scheme to request help from other European countries. Turkey is not a member of the EU.
In neighbouring Greece, firefighters were trying to contain a wildfire burning in the west of the country that destroyed houses and left 15 citizens in hospital with breathing problems on Saturday, authorities said. Temperatures have been high in much of the country in recent days and are expected to reach 44 degrees Celsius on Monday and Tuesday.
On the Italian island of Sicily, firemen said on Saturday they were battling for a second straight day wildfires that reached the town of Catania, forcing people to leave.
