A forest fire struck a reserve at Altay of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Sunday night, and by Monday noon the flames, fanned by strong winds, had devoured a land area of 150,000 square meters.  

Nearly 200 people including rangers and members of the armed frontier defense have rushed to the site, about 20 kilometers from the scenic spot Kanas Lake, northwest China.

Local fire-fighting sources said this could be the year's largest forest fire. Causes of the fire are still under investigation.

Earlier this year, the Kanas Nature Reserve was twice hit by fire, mainly because of illegal excavation of the medicinal herb caterpillar fungus.

(Xinhua News Agency June 7, 2004)