Global Courant
ASTANA – Fourteen people have died in major wildfires in northeastern Kazakhstan, the emergency ministry said on Saturday, the highest number in years in the Central Asian country.
“A total of 14 bodies have been found,” the ministry said in a statement, after previously announcing it was seeking forest rangers trapped as fires engulfed 60,000 hectares of land.
The ministry said 316 people had been evacuated but the situation was under control and homes were safe, despite the high temperature and changing wind direction hindering the response.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev fired emergency minister Yury Ilyin earlier on Saturday.
More than 1,000 people, mostly from defense and emergency ministries, are taking part in the effort to put out the fires.
According to local authorities in the vast ex-Soviet country, they were set in motion by lightning on Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his condolences to Mr Tokayev. AFP
