A fire spreading across 1000 hectares of land, reached Yesilirmak village and destroyed thousands of trees and animals in the north-west of the island, on Saturday. 200 thousand cypress trees, pine trees and locust trees, which had been planted 13-14 years ago, were reduced to ashes.
The Minister of agriculture and natural resources, Sami Dayioglu said that it would take ten years to revive plant-life in the area. He said that they should urgently decide to purchase a fire-fighting helicopter
The fire started on Saturday in an area known as “Mylos tou Mavrou” near Pyrgos village in the South and spread across the buffer zone and reached Yesilirmak village.
Strong winds in the area created alarm across the entire country. Locals, along with the army and the forestry department made great efforts to put out the fire. A helicopter from Turkey was also deployed to help in the operation.
President Eroglu, who had visited the site, said that in the past there had been joint efforts for putting out fires in the buffer zone and added that teams of the United Nations tried to extinguish the fire at Pyrgos village, but when the fire crossed over to North Cyprus, they abandoned the area.
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