Turkey mourns 10 people killed battling a wildfire

Audio By Carbonatix

Enlarge

ISTANBUL (AP) — The funerals of 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers killed while battling a wildfire were held on Thursday in Turkey.

Grieving family and friends of the five members of the AKUT rescue organization were joined by leading politicians and crowds of mourning citizens at the Ahmet Hamdi Akseki Mosque in Ankara.

Meanwhile, five forestry staff were buried in their hometowns across western Turkey, the scene of multiple wildfires since last month.

The 10 men died Wednesday while trying to put out a fire raging through a forested area in the northwestern Eskisehir province, Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said. At least 14 other rescuers and forestry workers were hospitalized, he said.

The bodies of all 10 were earlier brought to a forensic facility in Ankara for identification.

The deaths bring the number of fatalities in wildfires that have flared amid strong winds, high temperatures and dry conditions so far in the country this year to 13. Turkey has been battling wildfires since June 26.

Yumakli said that winds suddenly changed direction on Wednesday, causing the flames to shift rapidly and surround the forest workers. It wasn’t clear what caused the fire.

Personal details of those who died emerged, including a 28-year-old forestry worker who had returned to work from his honeymoon just two days earlier. One AKUT volunteer had spent a month rescuing the victims of a catastrophic earthquake that struck southern Turkey in February 2023.

Meanwhile, farmers in the neighboring province of Bilecik helped combat a separate fire by running convoys of tractors hauling water tanks to the blaze.

An older man and two forestry workers were killed in a wildfire that raged near the town of Odemis, in Izmir province, earlier this month.