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A30 world news
Diamars 3 augustus 2021

Turkey battles wildfires for 6th day; 10,000 are evacuated

provinces since Wednesday Tourism Minister Mehmet edge of the village of Hisa-
have been extinguished. Nuri Ersoy said Monday that ronu, burning a number of
some tourists were able to re- homes and descending down
“We are going through days turn to their hotels after the a mountainside toward a road
when the heat is above 40 threat dissipated. as police evacuated ambu-
Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), lance crews and journalists.
where the winds are strong The EU said it helped mobi-
and humidity is extremely lize firefighting planes from “Our lungs have been burn-
low,” Pakdemirli said. “We Croatia and Spain to help ing for the past five days,”
are struggling under such Turkey. Planes from Ukraine, Oktay told Haberturk televi-
difficult conditions.” Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran sion.
have also been fighting the
In Bozalan, Esra Sanli sobbed blazes. Spain said it was send- The health minister, Fahret-
as she pointed at a fire raging ing two water-dumping air- tin Koca, said at least 27 peo-
near the village. craft and one transport plane ple affected by the fires were
as well as 27 soldiers to help. still being treated in hospitals
(AP) — Selcuk Sanli set have been evacuated in Mug- “There’s no plane, there’s no while hundreds of others had
his two cows loose, put his la province alone, Interior helicopter, there’s no roads. The EU announcement fol- been treated and released.
family’s most treasured Minister Suleyman Soylu How is this going to be ex- lowed allegations that the
belongings in a car and said Monday. tinguished? How?” she said. Turkish government was Soylu, the interior minister,
fled his home as a wild- compromising firefighting said authorities were investi-
fire approached his village Sanli returned to check on Firetrucks, with their sirens efforts by refusing help from gating the cause of the fires,
near Turkey’s beach resort his house Monday in Boza- on, drove toward Bozalan, Western nations. Pakdemirli including human “careless-
of Bodrum, one of thou- lan only to find that the fire while villagers were seen refuted that, saying that the ness” and possible sabotage
sands fleeing flames that had flared. herding cows away from the government had only refused by outlawed Kurdish mili-
have coated the skies with area. offers for planes whose wa- tants. He said one person was
a thick yellow haze. “Property is an important part ter-dumping capacities were detained over allegations that
of life but life itself comes On Sunday, residents were less than five tons. A total of he may have been paid by the
For the sixth straight day, first,” he said as he prepared forced to evacuate the near- 16 planes, 51 helicopters and group to start a fire.
Turkish firefighters battled to leave once again. by village of Cokertme as more than 5,000 personnel
Monday to control the blaz- flames neared. Some got on were tackling the fires, he Experts, however, mostly
es that are tearing through Agriculture and Forestry small boats and others left by said. point to climate change as
forests near Turkey’s beach Minister Bekir Pakdemirli cars as the fire got closer and being behind the fires, along
destinations. Fed by strong said on Twitter that crews closer — scenes that Ahmet Turkish President Recep with accidents caused by
winds and scorching tem- were still tackling nine fires Aras, the mayor of the nearby Tayyip Erdogan’s govern- people. Erdogan has said one
peratures, the fires that began in the coastal provinces of resort of Bodrum, described ment has also been widely of the fires was started by
Wednesday have left eight Antalya and Mugla that are as “hell.” Precautions were criticized for failing to pur- children.
people dead. Residents and popular tourist areas. Other taken to protect two nearby chase state-of-the-art fire-
tourists have fled vacation re- active fires were in the prov- thermal power plants. fighting planes. A heat wave across southern
sorts in flotillas of small boats inces of Isparta, Denizli, Europe, fed by hot air from
or convoys of cars and trucks. Izmir and Adana. An evacuation order was also In Marmaris, Mayor Mehm- North Africa, has led to wild-
Many villagers have lost their issued for the town of Tu- et Oktay said fires were still fires across the Mediterra-
homes and farm animals and Another fire in Tunceli, in runc, near the seaside resort burning in two locations and nean, including in Italy and
have had trouble breathing southeast Turkey, was con- of Marmaris in Mugla prov- estimated that 11,000 hect- Greece, where people had to
amid the heavy smoke. tained on Monday, the min- ince. People carrying suitcas- ares (28,000 acres) of forest be evacuated by sea to escape
ister said earlier. In all, 137 es fled on small boats. had been incinerated. On the flames.
Overall, some 10,000 people fires that broke out in over 30 Monday, a fire reached the

Death toll triples to more than 300 in recent China flooding

(AP) — More than 300 teen people died in the sub- zhou was hit by 20 centime- yuan ($14 billion). About 1.5 team to evaluate the disas-
people died in recent way flooding. ters (8 inches) of rain in one million people were evacu- ter response, summarize the
flooding in central China, hour starting at 4 p.m. on ated because of the rains and lessons from it and hold ac-
authorities said Monday, The previous death toll, an- July 20, overwhelming the flooding. countable anyone guilty of
three times the previously nounced Friday, was 99. already drenched city. Chil- dereliction of duty, Chinese
announced toll. dren were trapped in schools, The central government media said.
Authorities said 189 people and stranded people stayed in has set up an investigation
The Henan provincial gov- were killed by floods and their workplaces overnight.
ernment said 302 people mudslides, 54 in house col-
died and 50 remain missing. lapses and 39 in underground The rains headed north in the
The vast majority of the vic- areas such as basements and following days, hitting the
tims were in Zhengzhou, the garages and including those Henan cities of Hebi, Anyang
provincial capital, where 292 on subway Line 5. The death and Xinxiang. Seven people
died and 47 are missing. Ten toll remained at six in an ex- died and three are missing in
others died in three other pressway tunnel from which Xinxiang, where record rains
cities, officials said at a news 247 vehicles were removed as dropped more than 25 centi-
conference in Zhengzhou. it was drained. meters (10 inches) of water
in a 19-hour period. Henan
Record rainfall inundated Wang Kai, the governor of is an inland county about
the city on July 20, turning Henan province, expressed 620 kilometers (380 miles)
streets into rushing rivers deep condolences to the southwest of Beijing.
and flooding at least part of victims and sympathies to
a subway line. Video posted the families on behalf of the Authorities said that about
online showed vehicles be- Henan Communist Party 250,000 hectares (625,000
ing washed away and desper- committee. acres) of crops were de-
ate people trapped in subway stroyed and have estimated
cars as the waters rose. Four- The worst came after Zheng- losses at more than 90 billion