Turkey fires close busy shipping route
Turkey 'temporarily' shut the strait in both directions, the transport ministry said, after fires broke out in the northwestern province of Canakkale and spread, fanned by strong winds.
Authorities evacuated 72 people from a public hospital and 57 from a retirement home, farms and forestry minister Ibrahim Yumakli said.
He said 24 people were hospitalised for smoke inhalation.
The fire destroyed houses in Sacakli, one of three villages that were evacuated, state news agency Anadolu reported.
Images broadcast by Turkish media showed firefighters being forced to abandon one of their trucks on a forest road as the flames engulfed it.
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Yumakli said winds up to 80 km an hour were complicating the firefighting effort.
Turkish authorities forecast winds of up to 75 km an hour with temperatures over 30 deg C.
Linking the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara, the Dardanelles Strait is a popular tourist destination, the site of the ancient ruins of the city of Troy.
Turkey has been enduring a heatwave for several weeks.
In July, 14 people died while fighting fires in the west of the country.
Authorities said the risk of fires will remain high until October.
Scientists said human-caused climate change is raising the likelihood and intensity of wildfires.
Nearly 46,000 ships passed through the Dardanelles Strait in 2024, authorities say. AFP
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