Thousands of firefighters battle blazes as about 1,500 people are forced to evacuate.
At least 15 people have been killed and 26 injured in wildfires raging in different parts of Algeria, according to state media, as a heatwave spreads across the region.
Citing a statement by the interior ministry, the APS news agency also said on Monday that at least 1,500 people had been evacuated in the north of the country.
APS also reported that at least 10 soldiers were killed in the Beni Ksila region, according to a separate statement by the defence ministry. It was not immediately clear if the soldiers were part of the death toll cited by the interior ministry.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune offered its condolences to the families of the victims, both civilians and security personnel.
About 7,500 firefighters and 350 trucks aided by aerial support were battling to bring the flames under control across the country, authorities said, including in the Boumerdes, Tizi Ouzou, Jijel and Skikda regions.
As temperatures hit 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit), Algeria recorded 97 blazes fanned by strong winds across 16 provinces, the interior ministry said.
Operations were under way to extinguish fires in six provinces, the ministry added, calling on citizens to “avoid areas affected by the fires” and to report new blazes on toll-free phone numbers.
Fires regularly rage through forests and fields in Algeria in summer. This year, they have been exacerbated by a heatwave that has seen several Mediterranean countries break temperature records.
In neighbouring Tunisia, temperatures on Monday neared 50C (122F).
Last week, a major blaze raged in a Tunisian pine forest near the border with Algeria. A border crossing had to close temporarily, according to Tunisian officials who confirmed 470 hectares (1,100 acres) of forest had been burned.
In May, Algerian authorities said they were preparing for wildfires by purchasing and renting water bombers, and by constructing landing strips for helicopters and firefighting drones.
Scientists rank the Mediterranean region as a climate change “hot spot” with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warning of more heatwaves, crop failures, droughts, rising seas and influxes of invasive species.
#killed #Algerian #wildfires #high #heat #winds #Climate #News
English 
Hindi
Leave a Reply