AT least two people have died and thousands have been evacuated as devastating wildfires continue to rage in Turkey.
Firefighters have been battling more than 600 fires fuelled by high winds in the drought-hit nation over the past week.
The wildfires first erupted in tourist hotspot areas Kuyucak and Doganbey fanned overnight by winds which reached 25-30mph.
Authorities have successfully contained several wildfire outbreaks, including a significant blaze near the resort destination of Cesme, yet they continue to combat two additional fires.
One of them is in Buca, just south of Izmir, and another in Odemis – about 64 miles further east where an 81-year-old man died on Thursday.
“The village had to be evacuated, however, a senior resident who was bedridden unfortunately could not be rescued,” stated Salih Uzun, a legislator from Izmir representing the main opposition CHP party.
A forest worker in the same area died as he battled the blazes, the country’s agriculture minister Ibrahim Yumakli said on X.
Forecasters said temperatures were set to rise over the weekend and would reach around 40 degrees Celsius early next week.
The Buca fire, which ignited at 4:00 pm on Thursday and rapidly expanded due to windy conditions, led to the closure of the highway connecting Izmir and Aydin in the southeast, according to CNN Turk.
It said two people who had been cutting iron for use in construction had been arrested on suspicion of starting the fire.
In a Facebook post that has since been shared thousands of times, the Mayor of Odemis Mustafa Turan was seen desperately pleading for help.
One local said: “The magnitude and frightening dimensions of the fire are frightening the people of Odemis.”
Earlier, two other fires broke out — one in the southern resort of Antalya and the second in Istanbul’s Sultan Gazi forest.
They were quickly contained by firefighters, officials said.
Footage from Antalya showed flames raging in a forested area near a residential area in Lara, a popular tourist resort with many large hotels.
Planes were seen dumping large supplies of water over fiery infernos in order to combat the blazes.
And local residents watched in horror as their homes were torched up and forestry continued to burn.
Aftermath photos showed scorched cars and buildings while firefighters worked desperately to fight the flames.
Foreign Minister Yumakli said: “Our heroes continue their relentless struggle against the flames under the toughest conditions, day and night, with all their might.”
Some 122 fire engines, 74 water tankers and 84 heavy machines have been deployed alongside more than a thousand people who are desperately working to extinguish the flames, Yumakli added.
Since Friday, hundreds of fires have been reported across drought-hit Turkey, fuelled by high winds.
On Monday, more than 50,000 people were evacuated, mostly in the Izmir area but also from the southern province of Hatay, the AFAD disaster management agency said.
According to figures on the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) website, there have been 90 wildfires in Turkey so far this year that have ravaged more than 35,082 hectares (86,689 acres) of land.
The figure on Monday was nearly 15,000 hectares destroyed in 65 fires.
Turkey‘s Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said that 17 suspects linked to fires between June 26 and 28 had been detained.
But one suspect, a beekeeper according to local media, has been held for allegedly starting a fire with gasoline and is facing charges of “intentionally causing a forest fire,” the Minister added.
