El Qalaa - (AFP) Algerian firefighters continued Thursday to fight a series of fires that have killed at least 38 people and caused widespread destruction, at a time when deadly forest fires have become a disaster the country faces annually.

Multiple sources, including local journalists and fire services, indicated that at least 38 people were killed, most of them in the state of El Tarf in northeastern Algeria near the border with Tunisia, when the temperature reached 48 degrees Celsius.

At least 200 other people suffered burns or respiratory problems due to the smoke, according to Algerian media.

The Ministry of Justice opened an investigation aimed at determining whether the fires were intentional, after the Ministry of Interior spoke of "arson fires."

According to the fire service, 24 fires are still burning across seven states. During the past 24 hours, 1,700 firefighters were mobilized to put out the fire in 118 locations in 21 states. The army, along with the fire brigade, uses water bombs.

The scenes raised fears of a repeat of last year's fires, which killed at least 90 people and destroyed 100,000 hectares of forests and agricultural lands in the north of the country.

And saw a team of journalists from Agence France-Presse, on the road leading to the castle on the coast in the far north-east of the country, charred trees and vehicles burned.

The team also saw significant damage at the wildlife park, where a witness who asked not to be named said 12 people were burned alive inside their bus as they tried to flee.

In a hospital in Al-Qalaa, "of the 72 people admitted, nine are in intensive care, nine have died and the rest have been discharged," a health official in El Tarf province told AFP.

Prime Minister Ayman bin Abdulrahman from El Tarf state said it was very difficult to contain the fires with wind speeds of 91 kilometers per hour.

And an aviation expert confirmed the information in an interview with Agence France-Presse, explaining that "winds exceeding 90 kilometers per hour make the work of water bombers that get as close as possible to the fire, which is spreading quickly due to the wind, difficult or even impossible."

In solidarity with the families of the fire victims, all cultural activities in Algeria have been postponed, according to the Ministry of Culture.
And associations began to collect money and medicines for the victims, many of whom were burned to varying degrees.

The fires that occurred in recent days have sparked harsh criticism of the authorities for the lack of firefighting aircraft.

Experts also called for greater efforts to enhance the ability to fight fires in the largest African country with more than four million hectares of forests.

Algeria rented a Russian Beriev BE 200 water bomber. However, after it intervened to put out several fires, this plane broke down and will not be ready to fight fire again before Saturday, according to Interior Minister Kamal Beljoud.

Algeria agreed to buy seven fire-fighting aircraft from the Spanish company "Belisa", but canceled the contract following a diplomatic row in June, according to the specialized "Mina Defense" website.

On Thursday, the prime minister confirmed that his country had requested four water bombers, the first of which would arrive in December.
One expert told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that in the 1980s the country had 22 Grumman planes to fight forest fires, but they were "sold cheaply, without proposing any alternative solution."

University professor Rafiq Baba Ahmed, for his part, attributed the fires to the "mismanagement" of the forests, which were invaded by human activities.