Firefighters fought forest fires in southern Turkey for the fourth day in a row on Saturday, July 31, while the death toll rose to six people, the official Turkish agency Anadolu reported.

The death toll in the fires, which also left more than 300 injured, rose from four to six after the bodies of two workers were found trying to fight the flames, the agency said.

A new fire broke out in the tourist town of Bodrum on Saturday, with residents and travelers having to be evacuated from their homes and hotels.

Ten fires were still raging in the region while 88 others have been brought under control since Wednesday, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said in a tweet.

Investigators were trying to establish whether some fires had been started deliberately.

28-31 Temmuz 2021 tarihleri ​​arasında çıkan 98 orman yangınının 88'ini kontrol altına aldık.



10 yangını kontrol altına alma çalışmaları büyük bir özveri ile devam ediyor.

pic.twitter.com/CqeagGPQ5o

- Dr. Bekir Pakdemirli (@bekirpakdemirli) July 31, 2021

Turkey had no bombers

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan thanked his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for sending planes and helicopters.

President Erdogan was the target of criticism when it turned out that Turkey did not have water bombers as the problem of fires worsened in the country with a third of the territory forested.

The main opposition party, the CHP (Republican People's Party, Social Democrat), accused the Turkish president of having dismantled the infrastructure of a semi-public organization that held water bombers.

"The main reason for these problems with the planes is that the Turkish Aeronautical Association has not been able to modernize its fleet and its technology", retorted Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a visit to Manavgat, city ​​affected by fires.

More than 2,600 fires have broken out on average each year over the past decade in Turkey, but that number has jumped to nearly 3,400 fires in 2020, according to Husrev Ozkara, vice president of the Turkish Foresters Association.

With AFP

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