Fire fighters have brought under control a high-altitude fire in
a remote county in eastern Tibet Autonomous Region, sources with
local police said on Monday.
The blaze began around 3:00 PM Saturday in a forest located at
an altitude of 3,800 meters in Gyanmda, a mountainous county in
Qamdo, and spread rapidly. The area was almost inaccessible due to
a lack of roads and heavy smoke, local authorities said.
More than 1,000 people, including police and local residents,
were enlisted to put out the fire.
The exact area of forest affected by the fire is still
unknown.
No casualties were reported, nor was any damage reported. The
cause of the fire remains unclear.
On March 18, fire fighters extinguished a high-altitude fire in
Qamdo Prefecture. It had lasted for five days and engulfed more
than 46 hectares of virgin forest.
(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2007)
