2 volunteers die fighting Turkey wildfires, raising deaths to 17 since late June

The death toll from wildfires outside the northwestern Turkish city of Bursa has risen to four after two volunteer firefighters died

ISTANBUL -- The death toll from wildfires outside the city of Bursa in northwest Turkey rose to four late Sunday after two volunteer firefighters died.

The pair died in hospital after they were pulled from a water tanker that rolled while heading to a forest fire, news agency IHA reported. Another worker died earlier at the scene of the accident and a firefighter died Sunday after suffering a heart attack.

Their deaths raised Turkey’s wildfire fatalities to 17 since late June, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers killed Wednesday in a fire in Eskisehir, western Turkey.

Huge fires around Bursa, Turkey’s fourth-largest city, broke out over the weekend, leading to more than 3,500 people fleeing their homes. On Monday morning, fog-like smoke from ongoing fires and smouldering foliage hung over the city.

Unseasonably high temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds have been fueling the wildfires, with Turkey and other parts of the eastern Mediterranean experiencing record-breaking heatwaves.

The fires around Bursa were among hundreds to have hit Turkey over the past month. While firefighting teams have contained the damage to a limited number of homes, vast tracts of forest have been turned to ash.

The water tanker crew comprised volunteers from nearby Bolu province heading to the village of Aglasan, northeast of Bursa, to combat a blaze when the vehicle fell into a ditch while negotiating a rough forest track, IHA reported.

Turkey battled at least 44 separate fires Sunday, Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said late Sunday. He identified two fires in Bursa province, as well as blazes in Karabuk, northwest Turkey, and Kahramanmaras in the south, as the most serious.

The government declared disaster areas in two western provinces, Izmir and Bilecik. Prosecutions have been launched against 97 people in 33 of Turkey’s 81 provinces in relation to the fires, Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said.

A crowd of people gathered Sunday evening outside a police station in the village of Harmancik, 57 kilometers (35 miles) south of Bursa, after learning a suspected arsonist was detained there. The angry crowd demanded for the suspect to be handed over to them. The crowd dispersed after police assured them a thorough investigation would be undertaken.

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