Today, Thursday, the Algerian Ministry of Justice announced the opening of judicial investigations against unknown persons about forest fires to ascertain their source, after the death toll from the fires that broke out in the north and east of the country rose to 41 deaths and 161 injured, according to Algerian media.

The ministry said - in a statement reported by the Algerian radio on its Facebook page today - that "in the wake of the fires that touched some of the states of the country, which led to many deaths and the destruction of forest areas and buildings, the Republic's competent prosecutors ordered the opening of judicial investigations against unknown persons about these facts to ensure that the Its source if it is criminal, and identifying the perpetrators when necessary in order to pursue them judicially with the strictness required by the gravity of these acts and in accordance with the laws of the Republic.

Today, Algerian firefighters continue to fight a series of fires that have killed dozens and left widespread destruction, while deadly forest fires have become a disaster that the country faces annually.

Al-Jazeera correspondent stated that the victims of the forest fires rose to 41 people, most of them in the state of El Tarf in northeastern Algeria, near the border with Tunisia, where the temperature reached 48 degrees Celsius, while the number of injured reached 161 injured, and local media also reported dozens of missing persons.

Algeria witnessed 118 fires in 21 provinces during the last 24 hours (Reuters)

Pictures and videos spread widely across social platforms showed the burning of large areas of forests, especially in El Tarf, including a zoo that was almost completely burned, in addition to large parts of El Kala National Park, one of the most important nature reserves in Algeria.

A journalist in El Tarf described "scenes of destruction" on the road to the citadel on the coast in the far northeast of the country.

"A hurricane of fire swept through everything in seconds," he said - in a telephone conversation with Agence France-Presse - adding that "most of those who died were trapped during their visit to the wildlife park."

Algerian television showed footage of people escaping from their burning homes, and women carrying children in their arms.

Local media said 350 people had fled their homes.

The Algerian Civil Protection Directorate said that the number of fires that Algeria witnessed during the last 24 hours amounted to 118 fires in 21 provinces.

It indicated the deployment of 1,700 firefighters and 280 firefighting vehicles.

The Algerian authorities had announced the evacuation of 350 families in the mountainous state of Souk Ahras, which borders with Tunisia, and the authorities also closed major roads in the state of El Tarf.

A burning bus in El Tarf, which witnessed the largest death toll from forest fires in Algeria (European)

Compensation for the affected

Prime Minister Ayman bin Abdul Rahman announced the start of compensating those affected by the forest fires, starting next week.

He said - from the state of El-Tarif, where he came to find out the remnants of the fires that affected the state - that "the various competent departments and state institutions, foremost of which are the civil protection units and the National People's Army forces, were recruited to put out the forest fires that affected a number of states in the east of the country, as well as to take care of the injured and those affected." In implementation of the orders of the President of the Republic.

In an interview with citizens affected by the fires in El Tarf, the Prime Minister said that the winds exacerbated the situation further, after reaching a speed of 91 kilometers per hour.

For its part, the Algerian Ministry of Culture announced the suspension and postponement of all artistic activities until a later time, in solidarity with the families of the fire victims.

Algeria - the largest African country - includes more than 4 million hectares of forests.

Last year, at least 90 people died in forest fires that swept northern Algeria, and the fires destroyed more than 100,000 hectares of forest.