Wildfire kills three in western Turkey

ISTANBUL: A wildfire raging in a seaside tourist area in western Turkey killed three people, Turkish media reported on Monday, the latest in a string of blazes erupting countrywide.

Authorities found the bodies near the fire, which crews were battling in Alacati with helicopters and water bombers, state-owned news agency Anadolu said. Temperatures in parts of Turkey have reached 40 degrees Celsius over the last month, drying out vegetation and helping the spread of multiple wildfires.

A wildfire in June killed 15 people in Turkey´s Kurdish-majority southeast, and appeared to have been sparked by faulty electric lines. Wildfires have ravaged more than 44,000 hectares of land in Turkey so far this year, according to from the European Forest Fire Information System.

Experts say human-driven climate change is causing more frequent and more intense wildfires and other natural disasters, and have warned Turkey to take measures to tackle the problem.