Deadly fires fires rage through Africa’s Algeria

Kamel Beldjoud, the country’s interior minister, said 24 died in El Tarf, near the border with Tunisia, as well as a mother and daughter in Setif. The fires are continuing to blaze, as helicopters support firefighters in their efforts to fight them.

Reports say nearly 350 residents have been evacuated in various provinces. The country’s civil protection agency said that El Tarf was the worst hit area with 16 fires in progress.

Northern Algeria is affected by forest fires every year, with 90 people thought to have died in them last year and more than 100,000 hectares of woodland burnt.

The current toll for Algerians killed in wildfires this summer now stands at 30.

The latest blazes come during a summer which has seen a number of countries in the Mediterranean region ravaged by wildfires particularly in Europe, with France, Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy all affected.