People were running from the wall of fire. 34 people died

Algeria is battling wildfires in the north of the country for another day. Control of the element is hampered by temperatures reaching 49°C and the hot Khamaseen winds blowing from the desert, which can be felt Also to the firefighters from Sicily.

On Monday evening, the Algerian authorities said that the fire claimed the lives of at least 34 people, including ten soldiers fighting the element. Official figures say 26 people have been injured in the fires, but according to local media, the number of injured could be as high as 197.

Witnesses to the fight with the element described residents fleeing the fire wall, which burned “like a blowtorch”, and local television showed burned cars and shops, burning fields and bushes.

“We were already poor and the fire made the situation worse,” a woman in Bejaia told Reuters. – This fire is not normal, it jumps from place to place. I have never seen such a fire.

More than 8,000 firefighters, accompanied by 529 fire trucks, were involved in putting out the flames on Tuesday – and authorities estimate the flames are about 80 percent under control. 1,500 people have been evacuated from affected areas, and two border crossings into neighboring Tunisia have been temporarily closed.

In Tunisia, fires broke out near the town of Tabarka, in the border region of Jendouba. A spokesman for the services, Moez Tariya, said that the priority of the civil defense services is to stop firing from settlements and airports.