Forest fire in Turkey kills 12 people and devastates herds June 23, 2024

An AFP reporter saw around 100 dead animals on the ground in the village of Koksalan (Mahmut BOZARSLAN)

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Forest fire in Turkey kills 12 people and devastates herds

A major forest fire has killed 12 people and injured more than 75 in southeastern Kurdish-majority Turkey, the health ministry said on Friday.

Hundreds of animals died in the fire which spread across the dry landscape.

The fire left huge areas of charred and blackened land between the towns of Diyarbakir and Mardin, near the border with Syria.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said that 12 people had died and 78 had suffered injuries and smoke inhalation. Five people were being treated in intensive care, he said.

Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party, which won many municipalities in the southeast of the country in local elections in March, criticized the government's intervention as "late and insufficient".

As the fire spread overnight, the DEM asked the government to send in water bombers, saying that fighting the fire from the ground was "not enough".

The fire started on Thursday and quickly threatened five villages. A new fire broke out on Friday near the village of Ergani, but was brought under control, an AFP correspondent witnessed.

- Sheep and goats affected

An AFP reporter in Diyarbakir province saw around 100 dead animals on the ground in the village of Koksalan.

Residents told AFP that around half of their flock of approximately 1,000 sheep and goats had died.

A local veterinarian, who would not give his name, confirmed the deaths and said that many of those who survived were being treated for burns.

"We don't have very clear information on how many animals have been affected," the vet told AFPTV.

"But at the moment, just under half of the survivors will have to be put down because they can't be saved."

Seracettin Bedirhanoglu, a member of the opposition CHP party and leader of the eastern province of Van, described the images as "unbearable", calling on veterinarians to go to the area to help treat the injured animals.

"They are defenseless and helpless... In every big fire, they are the first to get hurt. I ask my veterinary brothers and sisters: please go to the area of the fire because they need you," he wrote on X.

- Fire investigation - The interior minister

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya attributed the fire to "stubble burning", which started late on Thursday and spread rapidly with strong winds, affecting five villages.

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said on Platform X that the public prosecutor's office had opened an investigation into the cause of the fire.

Turkey has suffered 74 forest fires so far this year, which have devastated 12,910 hectares (31,900 acres) of land, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).

In the summer of 2021, Turkey suffered major forest fires that claimed nine lives and destroyed large swathes of forest land on the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts.

The disaster sparked a political crisis after it was discovered that Turkey had no functioning firefighting planes.

This increased pressure on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was forced to accept international aid.

It also led to the government forcing Turkey to ratify the Paris Climate Agreement, becoming the last of the Group of 20 major economies to do so.

Experts say that man-made climate change is causing forest fires and other natural disasters to become more frequent and more intense, and have warned Turkey to take measures to tackle the problem.

By Mahmut BOZARSLAN

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