(Astana) Kazakhstan’s president declared a day of national mourning on Sunday after 14 forestry workers died the day before in massive wildfires in the northeast of Central Asia’s largest country, not far from Russia. .
This is the heaviest toll in recent years for a forest fire in this former Soviet republic five times the size of France.
“I declare Monday a day of national mourning,” announced Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who traveled to the Abai region, where fires are devastating 60,000 hectares of forest, to meet the families of the victims.
The day before, the bodies of 14 forest workers trapped in these fires not far from the Russian border were found.
These huge forest fires, started according to local authorities by lightning against a backdrop of drought, cost his post on Saturday to the Minister of Emergency Situations, who was dismissed by President Tokayev.
” The Ministry [des Situations d’urgence] and other relevant authorities gave incorrect predictions about the scale of the disaster […] They showed lack of professionalism, negligence. The culprits will be punished”, he hammered in front of the families of the victims.
According to the latest update from the authorities on Sunday at midday, the fire is under control, does not threaten homes, while the regional capital Semeï (ex-Semipalatinsk) is about 70 kilometers away.
Around 1,500 people, mostly members of the Emergency Situations and Defense Ministries, are continuing to fight the flames for the fourth consecutive day.
Central Asia is particularly vulnerable to global warming: over the past thirty years, temperatures have risen by 1.5° Celsius, twice as much as the average, according to the International Monetary Fund.
And faced with increasingly frequent episodes of drought, these countries lack the means to fight.