Ten people were killed in forest fires in Turkey as blazes broke out around the country amid soaring temperatures.
Five forestry workers and five search and rescue volunteers were killed after becoming trapped when “a sudden change in winds fanned the flames towards them” during a forest fire in western Turkey’s Eskisehir province.
Fourteen other people are being treated in hospital for injuries caused by the fires, added Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli at a press conference in the capital Ankara.
AKUT, a search and rescue organisation, confirmed five of its volunteers were among those killed. "Each was a true hero of this land," it said.
At least nine forest fires broke out around Turkey on Wednesday and Mr Yumakli warned that high temperatures, strong winds and low humidity forecast in the coming days increased the risk of more fires.
Thermometers hit 41C in Istanbul and meteorologists warned of temperatures above seasonal norms around the country.
This is the second time in less than a month that people have been killed in forest fires that have raged for days in Turkey.
Two people were killed this month by blazes that displaced at least 50,000 people and damaged or destroyed about 200 homes. Summer wildfires are common in Turkey, where experts warn that climate change is intensifying the conditions for their outbreak.
The EU has also recorded a surge in wildfires this year and its forest fires information system warned of “very extreme” risk in south-eastern Europe, including Greece, Albania, Bulgaria and Turkey, as well as in Norway, Sweden and Finland.
It has recorded 1,250 fires to date this year, a rise from 861 in the same period last year.
Other key dates
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Finals draw: December 2
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Finals (including semi-finals and third-placed game): June 5–9, 2019
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Euro 2020 play-off draw: November 22, 2019
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Euro 2020 play-offs: March 26–31, 2020
Specs
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On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Williams at Wimbledon
Venus Williams - 5 titles (2000, 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008)
Serena Williams - 7 titles (2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016)
MATCH INFO
Inter Milan 2 (Vecino 65', Barella 83')
Verona 1 (Verre 19' pen)
Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
Points tally
1. Australia 52; 2. New Zealand 44; 3. South Africa 36; 4. Sri Lanka 35; 5. UAE 27; 6. India 27; 7. England 26; 8. Singapore 8; 9. Malaysia 3
