Forest fires in Kazakhstan: A day of national mourning has been declared and the Minister of Emergency Situations has been dismissed
Kazakhstan's president on Sunday declared a day of national mourning after 14 forestry workers died in forest fires in the northwest of the country, AFP and Agerpres report.
It is the worst death toll in recent years from a forest fire in a former Soviet republic in central Asia, about five times the size of France, France Presse notes.
President Kasim-Jomart Tokayev visited the Abai region, where flames have devastated 60,000 hectares of forest, to meet the families of the victims.
The fires, which according to local authorities were started by lightning and against a backdrop of drought, cost the Kazakh Emergency Situations Minister his job and cost him his resignation.
"The Ministry and the competent authorities gave erroneous forecasts of the extent of the disaster. (...) They showed a lack of professionalism and negligence. The guilty will pay," Tokaev told the victims' families.
Authorities indicated Sunday noon that the fire is under control and not threatening any localities. Some 1,500 people continue to battle the blaze for the fourth day in a row.
Central Asia is particularly vulnerable to climate change, with temperatures here rising by 1.5 degrees Celsius over the past 30 years, twice the average, according to the International Monetary Fund.
