The death toll from continuous forest fires since Monday in several regions of Algeria has risen to 69, after 4 new deaths were recorded this afternoon in Bejaia (north), while Algerian civil protection teams backed by the army and volunteers continue to work to put out the fires.

While trucks set out from the capital and other regions carrying urgent aid for the affected people, both Morocco and France expressed their readiness to help Algeria fight the forest fires that have been going on for days.

And the Algerian News Agency reported, quoting the captain of the Civil Protection, Hakim Latrash, that 4 people died in the fires that were burning in Berbcha, southeast of Bejaia.

The official explained that these are the first victims of forest fires in the region since it broke out on Monday, and they are two men, aged 23 and 60, and two women whose ages have not been identified.

Tarrash had previously warned that the situation was "alarming" in the state of Bejaia, which is adjacent to Tizi Ouzou, and the second largest city in the Kabylie region.

Firefighters have been struggling for days to put out the raging fires in the forests of Tizi Ouzou (Reuters)

The latest toll announced by state television indicated that the number of forest fire victims had risen to 65, including 28 soldiers and 37 civilians, most of them in Tizi Ouzou, noting that 12 soldiers were in critical condition in hospital.

Subsequently, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune declared a 3-day national mourning, starting from Thursday.

In turn, civil protection spokesman, Captain Nassim Barnawi, told local "Echorouk" TV, this morning, Wednesday, that the number of fires that are still burning is 69 in 17 states, including 24 fires in Tizi Ouzou alone, and warned that the winds that are currently blowing could cause Increase the spread of fires.

The General Directorate of Civil Protection indicated - in a statement - that it had recruited 800 men and 115 fire trucks to put out the fires in Tizi Ouzou, in addition to the intervention of two helicopters from its air group.

The fires, which the authorities say are "fabricated", broke out in the Kabylie region in northeastern Algeria, and then swept through all coastal areas in the north-central and eastern parts of the country, up to the border state of El Tarf with Tunisia, which in turn witnessed the outbreak of some fires.

solidarity

Citizens opened their homes to receive those fleeing from the fire, according to Prime Minister Ayman bin Abdul Rahman, who also announced that all hotels, even private ones, as well as university residences, would be used to house the afflicted.

And since Tuesday morning, calls began on social media to organize convoys to help the residents of the villages of Tizi Ouzou, to collect food and medicine, to provide water transportation and help put out fires.


And trucks set out from the capital carrying materials donated by citizens and merchants, as well as citizens' cars, which they loaded with drinking water, baby formula and diapers, according to what was reported by the AFP correspondent.

And the “Doctors” page on “Facebook” published a call to volunteer to move to Tizi Ouzou Hospital to help treat the injured, noting that the hospital workers are already exhausted due to the high number of “Covid-19” infections.

The Ministry of Health also announced the allocation of additional places for people with serious burns in the two specialized hospitals in the capital.

Offers to help

For its part, Morocco expressed today, Wednesday, its readiness to assist Algeria in fighting the forest fires that are ravaging several regions of it, at a time when diplomatic relations between the two countries are witnessing tension over the Western Sahara issue.

The Moroccan Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement that King Mohammed VI "given his high instructions to the Ministers of Interior and Foreign Affairs, in order to express to their Algerian counterparts the readiness of the Kingdom of Morocco to assist Algeria in combating the forest fires that are sweeping many regions of the country."

"On instructions from His Majesty the King (...) two Canader planes have been mobilized to participate in this operation," which will be launched "once obtaining the approval of the Algerian authorities," she added.

Smoke rises from fire-ravaged land in the forests of Tizi Ouzou (Reuters)

This announcement comes after the Moroccan monarch's call to Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune at the end of July to "give precedence to the logic of wisdom" and "work together as soon as he deems appropriate to develop fraternal relations", also reiterating the call to open the closed borders since 1994.

For its part, France announced, through its Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, in a tweet on "Twitter", its readiness to offer its support to Algeria in order to confront this "difficult situation", expressing its solidarity with the Algerian people.

fire wave

And meteorological services expected the continuation of the severe heat wave, which does not help to curb the fires, until August 15, and temperatures will reach 46 degrees.

On Tuesday, the Algerian public radio announced the arrest of 3 "arsonists" in the city of Medea (north), while the Algerian News Agency announced the arrest of a fourth in Annaba.

Algeria, the largest African country, has only 4.1 million hectares of forest with a low reforestation rate of 1.76%.

The country witnesses forest fires annually, and in 2020 the fires burned about 44,000 hectares.

The phenomenon of fires is widespread in a number of countries of the world, and is linked to various elements expected by scientists, especially global warming, and the increase in temperature and decrease in precipitation is an ideal combination for the development of fires.

In Tunisia, neighboring Algeria, the capital, Tunis, broke its all-time record on Tuesday, as the temperature reached 49 degrees, and about 15 fires were recorded in the north and northwest, causing no casualties, according to civil protection spokesman Al-Moez Teraa.

On the northern bank of the Mediterranean, the most affected area in the past two weeks, a series of massive fires left 8 victims on the Turkish coast and 3 in Greece.