Relief in Algeria. The fires that ravaged wooded and urban areas in the northeast of the country on Wednesday and Thursday, “are completely under control”, said Friday, August 19 an official of Civil Protection to AFP. At least 38 people died in these fires.
Thirty people died in the area of El Tarf, in the far east of the country, including 11 children and six women. Five other deaths were recorded in Souk Ahras and two in Sétif. Several media have reported a 38th victim, a 72-year-old man who died in Guelma.
Investigation opened to determine the origin of the fires
For 48 hours, more than 1,700 firefighters fought to put out more than 20 forest fires which also injured around 200 people, some of them seriously burned. The Department of Justice has opened an investigation to determine if some fires were of arson.
The prosecution of Souk Ahras, where an entire family perished in the flames, announced the arrest of an arsonist. Three men were also arrested by the gendarmerie near El Tarf. They are accused of having set fire to the crops of a neighbor, without the authorities having made the link for the moment with the fires in the region.
Since the beginning of August, nearly 150 fires have been recorded in Algeria, destroying hundreds of hectares of forest and coppice. Each summer, the north of the country is affected by forest fires but this phenomenon is accentuated from year to year under the effect of climate change which results in droughts and heat waves.
