ANKARA (Reuters) -Ten firefighters were killed and 14 were injured as they battled to contain a wildfire in Turkey’s central Eskisehir province, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said on Wednesday.
Firefighters and rescue teams have been battling since Tuesday to contain a wildfire in Eskisehir’s Seyitgazi district.
On Wednesday, 24 firefighters were trapped in the fire when the wind suddenly changed direction and blew flames towards them, Yumakli told reporters. They were immediately taken to hospital, but 10 of them died, while 14 others were still being treated, the minister added.
“They were fighting the fire above the hill, while we were fighting it at the bottom,” firefighter Ercan Temel, who witnessed the incident told Ihlas News Agency.
“They tried to escape the fire running uphill, but they couldn’t manage to do it,” he said.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said in a post on X that prosecutors launched a legal investigation into the incident.
Seven wildfires were still burning in five central and western Turkish provinces on Wednesday, Yumakli also said.
(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever and Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by David Gregorio)
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