Deadly Israel fire kills 42
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A plane arrives to extinguish the forest fire near Haifa in northern Israel, Dec. 3, 2010. [Xinhua/Yin Dongxun] |
Northern Israel is still being ravaged on Friday by a massive wildfire, which have claimed 42 lives and destroyed an area of more than 30 square km in less than two days.
Throughout the day, Israeli firefighters and their comrades from several foreign countries have been trying to control the blaze. They were aided by over twenty aircrafts from Bulgaria, Britain, Turkey, etc. Aside from the firefighters, large police and army forces have been deployed in the area to fight the flames.
But the fire has not been contained by far, police commissioner Dudi Cohen said during a briefing, according to local news service Ynet.
Police have evacuated more than 17,000 people from the region. A few residents from nearby neighborhoods were forced to leave as they refused to abandon their homes despite approaching fire.
In Haifa and other towns that are not immediately endangered, police and health service have asked residents to keep the windows shut because of the heavy smoke.
The fire spread to two major highways linking Haifa and central Israel, forcing police to close the busy Route 2 on Friday and Route 4 the day before.
It broke out early Thursday in Carmel mountain range overlooking Haifa, Israel's third biggest city, and quickly deteriorated into a huge blaze with thick smoke in a few hours.
Most of the casualties were caused when a bus loaded with police and prison guards heading to a security prison near the blaze lost control and turned over, prison service officials said on Thursday. The guards were trying to reach an endangered prison to help evacuate the inmates.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a security cabinet meeting to deal with the historic firestorm. "We are in a very harsh event. Our first goal is that there be no more loss of life," he said.
"The second thing is to recognize the fact that our firefighting measures cannot provide an answer to forest fires of this magnitude, especially in the face of such winds," Netanyahu said, "only airborne forces have such equipment and since yesterday we have been in contact with many foreign governments in order to bring these forces to Israel.
He appealed to a few European countries on Thursday evening to send firefighting aircraft to help fight the blaze. Israel has no such aircraft of its own.
So far, Israel has received aid from Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Spain, Croatia, France, Jordan, Netanyahu said, adding that the government is trying to get more assistance from the U.S. and Canada. Palestinian firefighters also took part in the battle against the "human catastrophe."
As firefighters were battling to extinguish flames along the Carmel ridge, forces were dispatched to handle separate fires which broke out in Kiryat Bialik and Kiryat Tivon, small towns in the region.
A third fire broke out in a field south of Haifa, along a major highway, causing traffic congestion.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, however, police on Friday apprehended two 35-year-old men, residents of Daliat al-Carmel, a Druze town near Haifa, who were reportedly being seen throw Molotov cocktails in a forest on a Carmel hilltop, The Jerusalem Post reported. But the two were released Friday night after initial questioning.
Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said "suspicious items" were found at the sight of one of the fires. "As for the other two major fires, it is too early and the incidents are too large in scale to know their causes at this stage," Rosenfeld told the newspaper.
Further investigation showed that a possible cause for the disaster is that trash and tires discarded at one location caught on fire, according to local daily Ha'aretz.
Though the police forces were mainly tasked with assisting firefighters and emergency medical crews, some officers were assigned to look for suspects who may attempt to light up more fires in the region. The police had also called upon citizens to immediately report anything suspicious.
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