A forest fire that has engulfed the Koh-e-Sulaiman Range on the border of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan remains uncontained since May 9, leading to the death of three people and injuries to another four.
According to Sherani district Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Ejaz Jaffar, three people died when flaming pine nut trees fell on them while they were trying to put out the fire. Four tribesmen were also injured, he said.
The injured have been transported to a hospital in Zhob, where they are said to be in a stable condition
The deputy commissioner also said that the fire, which had originated on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa side but then spread to Balochistan due to strong winds, had spread to an area with a radius of about 7 kilometers from its point of origin.
The massive fire raged on for 10 days, burning ancient pine forests. An Army helicopter arrived on Thursday, to extinguish the fire, but it wasn't enough, and the fire raged on.
The Koh-e-Sulaiman mountain range is home to the world's largest Chilgoza Pine forest, producing around 640,000 kg of chilghozas annually.
While the exact cause of the fire has not been discerned yet, some authorities are attributing it to lightning. A forest officer in Sherani however, has said that the fire started because of a dispute between two local communities, on of who then deliberately set the pine trees on fire.
Federal Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman tweeted on Thursday that the fire was terrible and that she has alerted the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) as well as the chief secretary of Balochistan, but she cannot do anything beyond her mandate.
https://twitter.com/sherryrehman/status/1527359330890108936
Forest officials say that the only hope is either natural of artificial rain, because the fire is too big and spreading too fast to be controlled otherwise.
According to Sherani district Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Ejaz Jaffar, three people died when flaming pine nut trees fell on them while they were trying to put out the fire. Four tribesmen were also injured, he said.
The injured have been transported to a hospital in Zhob, where they are said to be in a stable condition
The deputy commissioner also said that the fire, which had originated on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa side but then spread to Balochistan due to strong winds, had spread to an area with a radius of about 7 kilometers from its point of origin.
The massive fire raged on for 10 days, burning ancient pine forests. An Army helicopter arrived on Thursday, to extinguish the fire, but it wasn't enough, and the fire raged on.
The Koh-e-Sulaiman mountain range is home to the world's largest Chilgoza Pine forest, producing around 640,000 kg of chilghozas annually.
While the exact cause of the fire has not been discerned yet, some authorities are attributing it to lightning. A forest officer in Sherani however, has said that the fire started because of a dispute between two local communities, on of who then deliberately set the pine trees on fire.
Federal Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman tweeted on Thursday that the fire was terrible and that she has alerted the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) as well as the chief secretary of Balochistan, but she cannot do anything beyond her mandate.
https://twitter.com/sherryrehman/status/1527359330890108936
Forest officials say that the only hope is either natural of artificial rain, because the fire is too big and spreading too fast to be controlled otherwise.