Wildfires in several Turkish regions have claimed at least 17 lives in the past month, as record-breaking heatwaves and strong winds fuel devastating blazes across the eastern Mediterranean.Wildfires in several Turkish regions have claimed at least 17 lives in the past month, as record-breaking heatwaves and strong winds fuel devastating blazes across the eastern Mediterranean.
The number of fatalities in fires outside the country’s fourth-largest city, Bursa, rose to four on Monday, as two volunteer firefighters died in hospital after being pulled from a water tanker that had overturned on the way to a forest fire.More than 3,500 residents in the area were forced to flee their homes over the weekend.
The latest fatalities bring Turkey’s wildfire-related number of dead to 17 since late June, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers who lost their lives in a fire last Wednesday in Eskisehir, western Turkey.
Although several fires have been partially contained, vast areas of forest have been destroyed by the flames. Turkey’s forestry minister Ibrahim Yumakli said on Sunday that the country had battled at least 44 separate fires that day
