Two million hectares of Russian forest lost

[dArKeR]

About two million hectares of forest have been destroyed by fire in Russia this year, mainly in Siberia and the far eastern region, the emergencies ministry said on Tuesday.

"Compared with previous years, the number of fire outbreaks has gone down while the area destroyed has almost doubled," Itar-Tass news agency quoted a spokesperson as saying.

Firefighters were still struggling to quell blazes in the Ural mountains, Siberia and the far eastern region.

But the fires did not threaten the population and the situation would be stabilised in the next few days, the official said.

Forests were still ablaze on the Chukotka peninsula, in far eastern Magadansk region, in the Siberian regions of Novosibirsk, Tyumensk and Tomsk, in the Altai Republic of Siberia, and in the Khanty-Mansiyisk autonomous territory.


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