The death toll in wildfires raging in southern Turkey rose to four as fire crews on Friday battled blazes that burned down homes, and forced people to evacuate villages and beach resorts.
Firefighters were still tackling wildfires in 14 locations in six provinces in Turkey’s Mediterranean and southern Aegean region, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters.
A total of 57 other wildfires that broke out amid strong winds and scorching heat have been brought under control since Wednesday, he said.
Photo: AFP
Warning: Excessive consumption of alcohol can damage your health.
The worst fires were in the Manavgat and Akseki districts in Antalya Province, where strong winds pushed the fire toward settlements on Wednesday.
An 82-year-old man and a married couple died, more than 50 others were hospitalized and dozens of homes were incinerated. More than 25 neighborhoods or villages were evacuated.
A 25-year-old volunteer died in another fire near the resort town of Marmaris, 320km west of Antalya, late on Thursday, raising the death toll in the fires to four.
The state-run Anadolu Agency said the man was taking drinking water to firefighters, but got in a motorcycle crash and perished in the fire.
The mountainside fire in Marmaris briefly threatened holiday homes and hotels on Thursday, while guests at a luxury hotel in the Aegean beach resort of Guvercinlik, near the town of Bodrum, were evacuated in boats, reports said.
Azerbaijan said it would send 500 emergency workers, helicopters and other equipment to help Turkey, a close ally, battle the blazes.
Erdogan said Azerbaijan would also provide an amphibious firefighting aircraft, in addition to firefighting planes sent from Russia and Ukraine.
Neighboring Greece also offered help.
In Greece, authorities on Friday ordered additional fire patrols and infrastructure inspections as the country grappled with a heat wave fed by hot air from Africa that is expected to last more than a week.
Temperatures in Greece and nearby countries in southeast Europe are expected to climb to 42°C tomorrow in many cities and towns, and ease only later next week.
Turkish authorities have launched investigations into the fires.
The mayor of Marmaris said he could not rule out “sabotage” as a cause for the fire there.
Erdogan on Friday said that the Turkish Ministry of the Interior and intelligence services were “engaged in an intense effort” to shed light on the wildfires.
In other Turkish provinces, authorities declared a ban on people entering forests to prevent more fires.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was