Three people died during a fire in southern Turkey on Thursday where authorities were battling multiple blazes for a second day amid suspicions of arson, the country’s disaster agency and therefore the agriculture minister said.
Dozens of villages also as some hotels were evacuated, and tv footage showed burnt buildings and other people fleeing across fields as firefighters on the bottom and in helicopters tried to contain a blaze in Manavgat, 75 km east of the Mediterranean resort of Antalya.
Officials have said that quite 60 wildfires have erupted across 17 provinces on Turkey’s Aegean and Mediterranean coasts in the week, with the presidency vowing to carry to account those liable for the “attacks”.
Of those wildfires, 36 are contained, but firefighting efforts for the remaining 17 continue, with quite 140 people requiring treatment or suffering property damage, consistent with AFAD.
Agriculture Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said an 82-year-old man had been found dead during the evacuation of Kepezbeleni, 16 kilometres northeast of Manavgat, and two people were found dead in Degirmenli, 20 kilometres east of Manavgat.
He said 18 villages and districts had been evacuated in Antalya, alongside 16 others in neighbouring provinces of Adana and Mersin, as fires spread around Manavgat on Wednesday, fanned by strong winds in weather. Authorities also evacuated a Manavgat hospital.
Buildings including a hotel within the Aegean resort of Marmaris have evacuated thanks to the blaze, state broadcaster TRT Haber said. Footage showed two separate fires near residential areas within the Aegean summer hotspots of Bodrum, where another hotel was evacuated, and Didim.
Pakdemirli said 35 aircraft, 457 vehicles, and 4,000 personnel were involved in firefighting efforts, as separate wildfires raged within the provinces of Osmaniye, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Adana, Mersin and Kutahya.
