ALGIERS — The death toll has climbed to at least 43 from
wildfires that have raged for days in northern
Algeria, with numbers expected
to rise further, the gendarmerie said Monday.
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Thirteen people have been arrested over suspicion of
involvement in starting the fires, it added.
“The latest toll of victims from the fires increased
to 43,” from 38 recorded two days earlier, the gendarmerie command said on
state radio.
Fires had swept through 14 wilayas, or
administrative councils, in the north of the country, with most concentrated in
the northeastern El-Tarf region near the border with Tunisia.
The gendarmerie, which operates under the defense
ministry, added that they are still working on identifying the bodies of the
victims.
The death toll is expected to increase, it said,
despite earlier reports that the fires had mostly been contained.
Civil protection services said some 31 fires were
put out in various parts of the North African country between Saturday and
Sunday.
More than 1,000 families were evacuated from various
districts over the past few days, the civil defense’s Col. Boualem Boughlef
said on Saturday.
The fires, which have become a yearly fixture due to
climate change, have devastated thousands of hectares of woodland in the
mostly-desert country.
Fires last year killed at least 90 people and seared 100,000
hectares of forest and farmland in the north.
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