ALGIERS, Aug 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The death toll from forest fires across northern Algeria has risen to at least 38, according to reports from local journalists, Ennahar television and the fire service.
Most of the deaths were in the El Tarf region near the eastern border with Tunisia, where blazes have been fanned by drought and a blistering heatwave.
Several people suffered burns or breathing difficulties but no new official figure was given on the number of injured.
A previous report by the civil protection said that four people had various degrees of burns and 41 others suffered from breathing difficulties in Souk Ahras, another border town with Tunisia. Television images showed residents of the city fleeing their homes in the face of flames.
According to local media, more than 350 families fled their homes in Souk Ahras. The gendarmerie closed several roads because of the fires.
“Thirty-nine fires in 14 wilayas (prefectures) are ongoing,” said in the afternoon the civil protection, noting that the wilaya of El Tarf recorded the largest number of fires with 16 fires, many still ongoing.
According to the private television Ennahar, about fifty people are hospitalized in El Tarf, a city of about 100,000 inhabitants.
Helicopter water bombers intervened in three prefectures including Souk Ahras, a town of about 500,000 inhabitants. Those of the civil protection are supported by army helicopters.
Algeria has chartered a Russian water bomber Beriev BE 200, but after having intervened on different fires, it has suffered a breakdown and will be operational again only from Saturday, according to Interior Minister Kamel Beldjoud.
Since the beginning of August, 106 fires have broken out in Algeria, destroying 800 hectares of forest and 1,800 hectares of coppice, said the Minister of the Interior.
With the 38 deaths on Wednesday, the death toll for the summer of 2022 climbs to 42.
The summer of 2021 was the deadliest: at least 90 people died in forest fires that ravaged the north, where more than 100,000 hectares of coppice went up in smoke. — NNN-AGENCIES
