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Native media report that 24 firefighters and rescuers had been trapped by the wildfire, and that victims had been ‘burned alive’.
At the very least 10 firefighters and rescue staff had been killed and 14 others injured whereas battling a wildfire in Turkiye’s northwestern Eskisehir province, authorities mentioned, as a number of fires rage in central and western areas of the nation the place temperatures are hovering.
Turkish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Ibrahim Yumakli mentioned on Wednesday that 5 forestry staff and 5 rescuers attempting to deal with the blaze had been killed when 24 firefighters grew to become trapped within the wildfire earlier within the day.
Winds whipped up by the flames instantly modified route, and the hearth engulfed the group of firefighters, who had been swiftly transported to hospital, the place 10 of them died.
Fourteen others are nonetheless receiving medical therapy, the minister mentioned.
“Sadly, we have now misplaced 5 forest staff and 5 [rescuers],” Yumakli informed Turkish tv broadcasters.
Turkish information web site BirGun reported that the group had been trapped by the hearth and “burned alive”.
Native lawmaker Nebi Hatipoglu wrote on X that there are “no phrases to explain our grief”.
Turkiye has been sweltering since Sunday beneath excessive temperatures and robust winds which have fanned wildfires between Istanbul and the capital, Ankara, with the spreading blazes threatening houses and forcing the evacuation of a number of villages.
Minister Yumakli mentioned excessive warmth and risky wind situations had been additionally anticipated on Thursday.
“Beginning tomorrow, we face extraordinary temperatures and excessive wind shifts. As soon as once more, I name on all 86 million residents to be vigilant and train additional warning,” he mentioned.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan praised the victims who fought “to guard our forests at price of their lives”.
“I pray for God’s mercy on our brothers and sisters who fought at the price of their lives to guard our forests, and I provide my condolences to their households and our nation,” Erdogan mentioned in a message posted on social media.
Two prosecutors have been assigned to analyze the incident, the nation’s justice minister mentioned.
The deaths on Wednesday deliver the variety of deaths in wildfires to date within the nation to 13 this yr.
An aged man and two forestry staff had been killed in a wildfire that raged close to the city of Odemis, within the Izmir province, earlier this month.
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