The President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev dismissed the Minister of Emergencies Yuriy Ili from his post against the background of a large-scale natural fire in the east of the country.

Axar.az reports that the press service of the President of Kazakhstan has released information about this.

It should be noted that the fire in the Batpayev forest farm in the Abay district in the east of the country started after a lightning strike on Thursday. Due to the fact that the area was impassable for cars, the firefighters could not put it out quickly. During the fire, 3 employees of forestry were killed, and the search for 11 more employees is ongoing. According to the latest information, the initial area of the fire exceeded 60 thousand hectares.

According to local authorities, about 800 specialists from various departments, about 200 pieces of equipment, and 9 helicopters were involved in the fire scene. Additional forces and equipment were sent to the disaster zone from other regions. Extinguishing is made difficult by high temperatures, large burning areas, and winds up to 10 meters per second.