More than 50,000 people have been evacuated in western Turkey as wildfires continue to rage across the country for a third day.
Fires have swept through the provinces of Sakarya, Bilecik, Manisa, Hatay and Izmir – where tens of thousands were relocated to safe areas, Turkey's disaster management agency has said.
Firefighters are battling to contain the flames, which have been fuelled by winds reaching 40kph to 50kph, Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said.
Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu said 46 Turkish citizens are being treated in hospital, with one person critically injured. “Firefighting efforts are continuing tirelessly in response to the fires,” he said in a post on X. “I pray to God for a speedy recovery for all our injured.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a cabinet meeting that the fires were being tackled by “our fleet of 27 aeroplanes, 105 helicopters, 14 UAVs, nearly 6,000 tenders and 25,000 forest heroes”.
Turkey's coastal regions have in recent years been ravaged by wildfires due to hotter and drier summers, which scientists attribute to climate change.
Footage on social media showed hills covered in thick smoke and trees ablaze as helicopters above released water in an attempt to extinguish the flames.
It comes amid a heatwave throughout Mediterranean and other parts of Europe.
Health alerts have been issued in France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Germany. The Netherlands, typically associated with a milder climate, has also issued warnings about high temperatures and high humidity over the coming days.
Fires have also been spreading through Syria's Latakia province, where Minister of Disaster Management and Emergency Response Raed Al Saleh was inspecting the damage on Tuesday.
