At least 26 dead in forest fires in Algeria

Tunis, Aug 18 (EFE).- At least 26 people have died amid wildfires sweeping through eastern Algeria, the interior ministry said Thursday.

Algeria is facing a heatwave that has brought extreme temperatures of over 47 degrees Celcius to the North African country.

The victims included 24 people who died Wednesday in the worst-hit province of El Tarf near the border with Tunisia, prompting Algerian prime minister Aymen Benabderrahmane to visit the area.

Since early August, at least 30 people have died and several others injured in the 161 forest fires recorded in Algeria.

The fires have so far devoured more than 1,800 hectares of bushland and 800 hectares of forests, according to the interior ministry.

Firefighters and civil defense personnel have been mobilized to extinguish the wildfires in the affected areas, the defense ministry said in a statement.

At least 90 people, 33 of them were soldiers, were killed in wildfires in Algeria last year, the deadliest year in the country’s modern history.EFE

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