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More than 100 other people had to be evacuated, required medical
treatment or suffered damage to property as a result of the
fire.
Hot weather and strong winds have caused blazes to spread around
the town of Manavgat, 75 km (45 miles) east of the resort city
of Antalya, and nearby villages. Several settlement areas were
evacuated on Wednesday.
Agriculture Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said on Thursday that an
82-year-old man had been found dead during the evacuation of the
district of Kepezbeleni, 16 km (10 miles) northeast of Manavgat.
A group of 10 people were rescued after being stranded on a boat
at the nearby Oymapinar dam.
Pakdemirli later said two others were found dead in the
Degirmenli district of Antalya, some 20 km (12.5 miles) east of
Manavgat, adding that efforts to contain the fire continued.
AFAD said 122 people had been impacted by the fires and that 58
were receiving treatment.
It said a firefighting plane, a drone, 19 helicopters, some 250
vehicles, and 960 personnel were part of efforts to control the
blaze, while Turkey's Red Crescent sent staff and food kits to
the region.
"Houses located in areas that could be impacted by the fire have
been evacuated. Several homes, offices, farms, agricultural
fields, greenhouses, and vehicles have been damaged by fire,"
AFAD said in a statement.
Authorities evacuated 18 villages and districts in Antalya while
16 more villages were evacuated in the neighbouring provinces of
Adana and Mersin, where efforts to extinguish separate wildfires
were underway, Pakdemirli said.
Television footage showed burnt residential buildings and people
fleeing across fields as firefighters backed by helicopters
battled to extinguish the fires.
Turkey's southern Mediterranean coast, a popular destination for
both local and foreign tourists, is known for its scorching
summer heat, which often causes wildfires. Officials have said
the latest fires are the biggest to date.
Pakdemirli said there had been 41 wildfires in 13 of Turkey's 81
provinces since Tuesday, of which 31 were under control. Blazes
in Osmaniye and Kayseri are still burning.
Turkey has battled a series of disasters caused by extreme
weather conditions this summer, including flash floods last week
that killed six people in the Black Sea region.
(Reporting by Yesim Dikmen, Ezgi Erkoyun and Tuvan Gumrukcu;
Writing by Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Dominic Evans and Catherine
Evans)
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