TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson offered condolences to Algeria over dozens of deaths in deadly wildfires that have ravaged provinces along the North African country’s Mediterranean coast.
In a message on Wednesday, Nasser Kanaani sent condolences to the Algerian government and nation over deaths in the wildfires.
Wildfires raging across Algeria have killed more than 30 people, including 10 soldiers battling the flames, and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people from their homes along the country’s Mediterranean coastal region.
The reports of the deaths came on Monday as temperatures hit 48 degrees Celsius in parts of the North African country.
The Algerian interior ministry said it recorded 97 blazes, fanned by fierce winds and extreme heat, across 16 provinces.
The ministry said the fires forced the evacuation of some 1,500 people from the Bejaia, Bouira and Jijel provinces east of the capital Algiers. The three provinces in Algeria’s Mediterranean coastal region have seen the worst of the fires.
While Algeria is no stranger to wildfires in the summer, this year, they have been exacerbated by a heatwave that has seen several Mediterranean countries break temperature records.
