02/08/2010 12:30
Massive fires in Russia
Massive forest and peat fires broke out in Russia with a total area exceeding 120 thousand hectares, Lenta.ru reported.
New 787 sites caught fire during the day. 387 out of them have been already extinguished and 400 with an area of 121 thousand 546 hectares still burn, Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations reported.
Fires broken out in areas that have been dried to a crisp by drought and record heat (Mordova, Tatarstan, Belgorod, Voronezh, Ivanov, Kirov and a number of regions) caused the most damage.
Some populated areas were burnt to the ground. The fire resulted in deaths of several dozens of people. Families of the casualties in Russian forest fires will receive one million roubles for each fire victim.