14 people died in forest fires in Kazakhstan

On Saturday, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev sacked Yury Ilyin, the minister for emergency situations.

The highest death toll in the Central Asian country in recent years is that of the fourteen people who died in a massive forest fire in northeastern Kazakhstan.

On Saturday, the Emergencies Ministry said 316 people had been evacuated, although the situation was under control and homes were safe, although high temperatures and changing wind directions hampered the response.

“A total of 14 bodies have been recovered,” the ministry said in a statement, after announcing it was looking for forest officers trapped when a fire burned 60,000 acres (148,000 hectares) of forest.

On Saturday, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev sacked Emergencies Minister Yuri Ilyin.

More than 1,000 people, mostly from defense and emergency departments, were involved in the fire suppression efforts.

The massive blaze was sparked by lightning on Thursday, according to local authorities in the sprawling former Soviet nation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences to Tokayev.

Addison Erickson

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