At least eleven people have been killed in a forest fire in southeastern Turkey. Dozens of others were injured, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced on Friday. According to government information, a fire broke out in a grain field late Thursday evening.
Due to the strong winds, it quickly spread to five villages. The fire was extinguished Friday morning and the cause is still being determined. At least eleven people were killed in the accident in the southeast of the country. Dozens of others were injured near the cities of Diyarbakir and Mardin. Residents said hundreds of goats and sheep also died in the flames. The charred carcasses lay in the fields on Friday.
45 fires in Greece
Fires were also reported from neighboring Greece on Friday – the fire brigade recorded 45. “In some places the wind gusts reached 95 kilometers per hour,” a spokesperson said. The Peloponnese peninsula, the island of Kefalonia and several regions in central Greece were affected. Some villages had to be evacuated.
Tourist facilities were not made and no injuries were initially reported. “Report any smoke formation immediately,” the spokesperson called on the population. The fire risk remains this weekend – after several weeks and temperatures around 40 degrees (see video above).
Huge areas destroyed
Turkey has already recorded more than 70 forest and forest fires this year, according to data from the European forest fire information service Effis. The worst forest fires in the country’s history killed nine people in 2021 and destroyed large areas of the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts.
Source: Krone
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