Death Toll In Algerian Forest Fires Rises To 69; Fires Blaze Across 17 Provinces
Algeria’s president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, has declared three days of national mourning amid the death toll from raging wildfires in the north of the country rising to 69.
The state-run news agency APS said the rash of more than 50 fires which broke out on Tuesday had claimed four more lives, bringing the total to 69, including 28 soldiers deployed to help the emergency services.
Tebboune said the three days of national mourning would start on Thursday. The authorities said they suspected widespread arson since so many fires had erupted in such a short space of time. Several arrests were announced, but the identities or suspected motives of those detained were not disclosed.
Images of trapped villagers, terrified livestock and forested hillsides reduced to blackened stumps, were shared on social media, many accompanied by pleas for help. AFP journalists saw villagers desperately trying to put out the spreading fires with makeshift brooms in an effort to save their homes.
EDIT
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/11/algeria-declares-three-days-of-mourning-after-wildfire-deaths